IronPika
by Stormy1x2
Summary: What would have happened if Ash had been shoved through the portal made by Uxie, Azelph, and Mesprit? If in a desperate attempt to keep Cyrus from damaging another world, Ash made one of his famous 'heroic leaps' and knocked him aside only to end up going through it himself? The Avengers are about to find out. Some IronHawk, Phil Lives and a few other tidbits.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **IronPika

**Author:** Stormy1x2

**Wordcount:** (chpt 1) 8300

**Notes:** Okay, so I started writing this back in December 2013 after my accident and then I spent April and May infatuated with Danny Phantom and therefore ignoring it. Now I'm rewatching all the Marvel movies to get ready for Avengers 2 and realizing that I really wanted to get this out there and maybe some encouragement will help me work on it.

_Note to Danny Phantom fans_ – yes, chapter 2 is almost done. Patience Is a virtue.

Anyway, this fic takes place in the Diamond and Pearl heydays and is a response to the question someone once asked me: what would have happened if Ash had been shoved through the portal made by Uxie, Azelph, and Mesprit? If in a desperate attempt to keep Cyrus from damaging another world, Ash made one of his famous 'heroic leaps' and knocked him aside only to end up going through it himself?

This is my answer.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

It seemed like just another, typical day in New York City.

"A dragon? In New York?" Steve turned incredulous eyes on Fury. "Really?"

"Sounds like just another work day," Tony said, waving his hand dismissively. "C'mon, after Thor's Bilgesnipes last month, a dragon is just so... ordinary."

Ignoring her teammates, Natasha leaned forward, eyes on the 3D map rotating in the middle of what the Director called his 'war room' – metallic, and simplified and technology-enhanced - but Stark tended to refer to it as the 'dungeon that style forgot'. Bright green sparks were highlighted all over the floating grid. They were fairly well clumped together, but with no other discernible patterns that they could easily see. Touching one of the sparks revealed coordinates and a physical address. "Previous sightings?"

"A string of them up and down Central Park," Fury replied. He seemed likewise inclined to ignore the other Avengers. "Infrequent sightings starting about three months ago. Reports to local police weren't treated seriously – seems the only witnesses were homeless people and known park vagrants. It wasn't until last week, a local grocery store reported a giant yellow rat stealing food off the shelves. One of their employees chased it off in time to see it jump on the back of a large orange dragon and fly off towards Central Park's north entrance."

"Yellow rats and orange dragons," Tony mused with a grin, shooting Clint a grin the archer immediately returned. "Sounds very colorful. Much better than the normal green dragons and brown rats we usually get. Hear of. Whatever." He paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "What color were the dragons of Pern?"

"That would be what you focus on," Bruce said, chuckling lightly. He directed his attention to Fury. "And no one's been able to find a lair? A den – something to indicate where it's been living?"

"Again, not until recently." Fury did something off-screen and a series of orange dots coalesced onto the holographic map. "We can reasonably assume it's around this forested area. Local police attempted a search yesterday, but were chased off long before they could enter the area. The dragon attacked, along with the yellow rat, which appeared to shooting some sort of electrical current, and what people said was..." Fury trailed off for a moment, quirking his brow at his notes. "I can't believe I'm saying this... but they were chased off by '_the abominable snowman throwing fireballs_'."

Clint and Tony chose that moment to break out into laughter.

"Was anyone hurt?" Steve asked, throwing a reproving frown at his twin reprobates. Clint snorted but settled himself quickly, only a slightly curled lip indicating his entertainment. Tony, on the other hand, continued to chuckle out loud, eyes glinting. It was easily apparent that he was far more amused than concerned about their present mission. Steve's frown intensified slightly, and Clint tugged Tony next to him, nudging the billionaire. Tony pouted – actually _pouted_ – for a moment, and then his attention was back on the holo-field.

"Surprisingly, no. All attacks apparently came close but no actual contact. Well, the rat-creature shorted out the electrical grid in the area, and the dragon blew up an abandoned car. The snowman hurled fireballs at people's feet, as though herding them from the area."

"Thank goodness for small favors," Steve muttered. "I'd like to keep a zero body count for once."

The meeting room door was suddenly opened by a young agent looking urgently at them all. Fury raised an eyebrow and the agent held up a clipboard. "New sighting sir," he spoke quickly. "And it's still there."

"_Paper_," Tony groaned, sounding physically pained.

Captain America took the clipboard and scanned it, Widow looking over his shoulder. "Third Street," she said. Her fingers danced numbly over her Widow's Bite cuffs, checking their charge as she took in the information.

Tony groaned again. "Do you have any idea what the traffic is like around there?" He brightened. "Anyone need a ride?"

"I'll take that flight," Clint said eagerly, raising his hand. He'd do just about anything to avoid SHIELD transportation if Natasha wasn't the pilot. Fury hadn't let him pilot officially since the Chitauri invasion, and Tony's promise of his very own Quinjet was literally still in the making.

Cap was already moving. "Let's go catch us a dragon, people!"

The report had been simple enough. A local tweet blew up the internet with a thousand people posting within seconds about a dragon robbing a pharmacy in broad daylight. Shield's computer geeks had all the information within moments of it happening, and were continuing to monitor the situation.

Meanwhile, having reached Third Street minutes before his team, Iron Man did loops around the building, his scanners latching on to the strange energy signal radiating from the creature. "Houston, we have contact!"

"What do you see?"

"What do you think?" Tony replied. "I got eyes on a fucking dragon. An orange dragon. A ridiculously bright orange dragon. His tailor should be drawn and quartered."

"Keep back, Iron Man," cautioned Captain America. "I'm right below you." Tony looked down to see Cap's motorcycle roaring up the street, swerving between the few cars left there unattended. "We don't want to do anything that'll make this thing attack."

"Yeah, yeah," Tony grumbled. _Party pooper_. "I'm gonna—"

Tony never got to finish his sentence because all of a sudden, the dragon flew upwards into a beautifully elegant loop that had him over Tony in seconds, its mouth wide open. Flames shot forth and Tony cursed over the comms, trying to cut far enough to the right to avoid them. Heat blossomed on his left arm, and his sensors began feeding him data. "Jarvis?"

"You avoided most of the blast, Sir," came Jarvis's calm response. "Mere scorching. I'll have Dummy ready the buffer for your return."

"You do that." Tony was now being chased by the dragon, who was still shooting amazingly lengthy streams of red and yellow flames in his direction. He began to zigzag, trying to stay more or less over the main road Fury'd had the local PD section off. Having set him down on a hotel on Third Street, he knew Hawkeye was probably watching his little aerial battle. Black Widow was on foot down below, moving the instant the plane touched down in the middle of the road but they couldn't help him up there. The dragon stayed right behind him. Then the flames stopped. Tony glanced behind him and blinked in stupefaction. A yellow-gold ball of light was forming inside the beast's mouth. "That... that does not look good."

"Move Iron Man!" Cap was shouting.

The dragon roared and the yellow light coalesced to a white point of pure power before blasting in Tony's direction, the beam traveling even faster than the flames. Tony yelped and aimed up – going down into the buildings seemed like a really bad idea – and breathed a sigh of relief as the beam continued on its way, a dozen meters below him.

Then he balked. A news helicopter was hovering a couple hundred meters away, cameras aimed in their direction. The beam of light didn't dissipate like the flames did. It continued straight on its deadly course. The helicopter pilot tried to dodge but the copter was much slower and heavier than Iron Man's suit. It managed to turn slightly away, but the beam of light shot directly over, searing right though part of the roof of the main cabin and exploding with amazing force. The helicopter began to spiral and sink towards the ground, smoke pouring out of the top. The propellers were still spinning but slowing with each passing second.

"Incoming!" Tony hollered through the coms, and dove towards the plane. The dragon seemed to have the same idea, and Tony tracked its movements.

The dragon flew straight towards the falling helicopter. Iron Man sped over and raised a hand to fire his gauntlet – and then stopped, staring. His hand dropped slightly. The dragon had dropped down hard on the back of the copter and was gripping the back of the helicopter with its clawed feet, sending chipped bits of metal and paint falling. It flapped its wings furiously, taloned fists clenched with the strain of trying to slow the dead weight down.

Tony took in the sight, automatically logging everything through Jarvis' scanners. The creature was heavily muscled, and obviously incredibly strong, but the helicopter was too heavy for it to stop completely. _It's helping us_, Tony realized, and he relayed that across the communications systems.

There was a gust of wind and a streak of brown and white shot past his helmet; Tony blinked, and suddenly there was a giant bird with a star-shaped crest, hovering by the open door. "Another one?" Tony gaped.

"Say again, Iron Man?"

"There's another animal-thing up here in the form of a huge-ass bird!" Iron Man shouted into the comm., his eyes fixed on the newest creature.

The bird screeched a keening shriek and flapped its wings violently, sending a large gust under the belly of the 'copter, helping the dragon to slow its descent momentarily. The wind swirled beneath it as though trapped between the landing struts. Tony could actually see the whipping winds circling in a funnel under the machine.

"Sir, by all laws of physics in this world, what that bird is doing shouldn't theoretically be possible."

"Jarvis, by all laws of biology in this world, neither of those animals should theoretically be possible, and yet here they are. Let's focus more on what is happening than what shouldn't be." Tony blinked, and then added, "For now, at least."

"Very good sir."

Iron Man watched as the bird then turned its attention to the body of the aircraft and latched on to the struts with its talons. The metal creaked and tore under the force. The bird reached in the side door with its massive beak and pulled out one of the passengers by the back of her jacket. The woman - a reporter Tony guessed, judging from her brown suit and name clip over the breast pocket – was screaming in fear, waving her arms in an attempt to strike the bird, but couldn't reach from her current angle.

Tony moved in closer just as the bird swooped away. He watched, dumbstruck, as the bird sped off at a speed he hadn't known was possible to achieve without an engine attached, dropping the woman gently to the roof of a nearby building, and then speeding back. He returned his gaze to the dragon, still somehow managing to slow, but not completely halt the descent of the helicopter. "Are you getting all this, J?"

"Recording continues sir. Scanners are operational as well. You will have a full record of this event in the home network."

The bird started to retrieve a second victim from the helicopter, and Tony finally snapped out of his frozen state. He dove towards the front of the helicopter and gripped the edging separating the metal from the windshield. Firing his thrusters at full power, he dug his fingers deeper into the metal and hauled upwards as hard as he could.

"Descending rate diminished by 13.7% sir."

"Let's try to increase that, shall we?" Tony growled out through gritted teeth. "Divert all secondary power systems to the thrusters."

"You will reduce your own capabilities by a large margin, sir. Your flight stabilizers may fluctuate. Life support systems will be reduced to 5%."

Tony had to stop himself from smacking his helmet in pure frustration. "How many times do I have to tell you not to tell me the math? Do it!"

"Diverting power now."

Tony felt a shudder through the Iron Man suit, and then white-hot flames shot from his boots. He could feel the metal edge of the helicopter windshield straining against the unerring pull of gravity. His feet were sweating.

The front of the helicopter slowed even more, and the machine started to balance itself out. A man was pounding on the windshield, trying to get his attention – he could feel the vibrations through his suit – but he couldn't take his eyes off the orange beast across the helicopter from him, who was glaring at him and then NODDING at him, as though in approval of his actions.

The bird was screeching at the door and suddenly there was a loud scream. Tony looked down in time to see the man at the windshield being yanked backwards. He looked to the side of the helicopter and saw the bird flying away with the man dangling from its mouth by his pant leg, screeching and flailing. He couldn't resist a chuckle. "Jarvis?"

"Recorded sir."

The bird was flying back to the building to drop off its second passenger. A purple-clad form was waiting there to assist the man in his landing – _Clint_. "You make good time, Katniss," Tony took a moment to acknowledge. The form raised a hand at him, possibly a finger as well, and Tony snickered. He looked back at what he was supposed to be doing.

Scanners indicated one more life signal aboard the helicopter. The rooftops of some of New York's finest skyscrapers – including Stark Tower, thank you very much – had started to become taller than him and the helicopter. He could almost make out people the size of large bugs in the windows. He looked across the body of the copter to the dragon that was still flapping its massive wings for dear life. "I hope that bird knows we're on a tight schedule."

The dragon snorted a small ember in his direction, chuffing. It looked like a smile – no, more like a smirk. Tony blinked, considering the implications of that remarkably human-like gesture. Then the dragon turned its head and roared in the direction the bird had flown. It came streaking up in a flash of light – literally a flash, almost magically materializing at the door of the falling 'copter, pulling up to an almost instant stop. Tony's hands were locked around the metal wedge which was a good thing because he might have dropped the plane otherwise.

The bird had stuck its head inside the door and was rooting around inside the helicopter. Tony could hear its muffled squawking and the subsequent cries from the person inside. He risked another glance down – the cars were growing ever larger with each passing second. "Anytime now, Tweety," he ground out between gritted teeth.

Finally there was a loud scream from a man being yanked out of the hold, a camera strapped around him, dangling into the air. The bird had him firmly clutched in its talons, though the sharp claws weren't actually piercing anything - Tony's scanners confirmed that quickly. The bird hovered for a moment, looking at the dragon with a screech before flying back up to the rooftop where it had dropped off the previous passengers.

The dragon looked at Tony, then at the ground, back at Tony and roared.

Tony grinned, completely at ease with the insanity that was him having a non-verbal conversation with an orange dragon. "I hear ya! Let's land this puppy!" Checking below, he told Jarvis to turn on and amplify his external speaker system. "Clear out! Out of the way!"

Below him, he could see Captain America leaping off a taxi roof, a passenger slung over each shoulder. The Hulk was roaring and punching the remaining cars left and right, smashing them up against the buildings. He seemed to be following the directions of the Black Widow who was gesturing with wide arms where he should hit them.

"Hulk!" Tony shouted. The Hulk froze for a second and then looked up, snarling. "Catch this thing, will ya?"

Natasha heard and threw her hands up, shouting something at the Hulk, who looked at her, looked back up again – and then raised his hands.

"Oh, thank the gods," Tony breathed. Hoping against hope, he looked back to the dragon and crossed his mental fingers that the creature would understand. They were only a few stories up now and still falling. "Okay lizard-breath – let's drop this thing okay? Do you understand me?" The dragon gave him a short nod. Tony swallowed down his excitement at the intelligence it was displaying and focused. "Three... two... one!"

Both dragon and man dropped their ends of the helicopter at the same time.

* * *

The minute the dragon had dropped its end of the helicopter, it was flying off as fast as it could flap. Tony waited just long enough to see Hulk catch the whirli-bird and set it down with a surprising level of gentleness – only partially crumpled from where he shoved it away from him. Then Cap was shouting at him to follow the dragon.

"On it, Cap," Tony confirmed. He had switched his power levels back to normal and while depleted quite a bit, he still had enough juice to keep going for the time being. The dragon was on a direct course to Central Park and the giant bird was already circling one portion of it, moving in for a landing somewhere in a more densely forested part towards the north end. He relayed the information to his team and then settled in for a controlled landing a couple hundred meters back on a path. "Well… they picked a nice part of the park to play house."

"Wait for us," Natasha barked over comms. "Cap's on his way. Bruce and I right behind you. He'll join you. I'll pick up Barton and rendezvous over Central. Leave the coordinating with Fury to me. He wants to send additional agents in."

"I'll bet he does," Tony muttered. Like hell he'd allow these fascinating creatures to be trapped in Fury's cages. There was sentience to be had in those brains – they'd worked in tandem to coordinate a rescue and Tony himself had seen, he _knew _that the dragon had understood his every word perfectly. He powered down to basics and started walking towards the brush, curiosity eating him up.

Cap was actually only two minutes behind him, pulling up short from a dead run. "Hold up, Iron Man."

Tony didn't even look back. "They're smart, Cap," he said, continuing his careful walk, eyes flying in all directions, looking for a flash of orange. "I don't want Fury cutting them open to see what makes them tick."

Steve grabbed his arm, pulling him to a halt. "You think I'd let that happen?" he asked, sounding almost hurt. "I just don't want you going in there without backup. They may have saved those people, but they were also the cause of that crash."

"It was an accident," Tony insisted. "He was aiming at me."

Steve pulled his cowl back and raised his eyebrows, giving Tony an odd look. "Do you really think that makes it okay?

"Yes!" Tony threw up his hands. "I'm moving past that, Cap. I saw intelligence in those eyes. I saw it follow my instructions. I saw them rescue those reporters without any coercion. The Hulk throws cars at me when I piss him off yet I'm willing to forgive and forget, Cap, why aren't you?" He batted his eyes at his teammate. "C'mon Cap, forgiveness is a virtue."

Cap shook his head, apparently amused – albeit reluctantly, no doubt - and then finally grinned, raking a hand back through his hair. "I have to say," he admitted finally. "I've always wanted to see a real, live dragon."

"Then let's get to it!" Tony turned back and took another step towards the densely forested section of the park.

Cap planted himself in front of Tony, eyebrow quirked. "As soon as the others get here."

Tony groaned.

* * *

It was technically a Shield plane, but Natasha was piloting so everything seemed right in Bruce's world. Sort of.

Bruce was still reeling a bit from his transformation, but thankfully Tony's experimental shorts – each stage showing more and more promise – had held up extremely well this time 'round. He adjusted the waistband so it was actually around his waist and nodded out the window at the greenery below. "They're living in Central Park… I don't believe it."

Clint and Natasha exchanged grins. Clint shot him a look over his shoulder as Natasha hovered the Quinjet over the Park. "We should get a few interesting jobs we've done around this area declassified for ya, Bruce. You'd be surprised what lives here."

Natasha transferred control of the Quinjet to Clint and unbuckled her belt. Bruce looked at her, slightly confused. "What are you doing? I thought Clint wasn't cleared to fly."

Natasha snorted. "This isn't flying. It's hovering. And even a Shield newb can land a Quinjet – Tony made it idiot-proof, remember?"

"Hey," Clint complained.

Bruce blinked. "Okay. But why…" He trailed off as Natasha pulled gear out of a storage locker near the doors.

She smirked at him and held up a coiled rope by its large metal clip in one hand, a harness in the other. "Ready to get up close and personal with those creatures?"

Bruce swallowed. "You're not landing first?"

Clint chuckled. "Not in the park, Bruce. I got reamed out by Fury last time I burned a portion of Central Park without prior permission. You guys go down and I'll find a roof." He nodded at a strangely familiar building nearby. "Maybe the Baxter Building. That'll give Tones something to laugh at later."

Bruce sighed and raised his arms, allowing the Widow to buckle him together for the drop. "Be gentle with me," he joked weakly. "I'd rather stay all fleshy for the time-being."

Natasha's eyes softened ever so slightly as she tightened the harness. "We've done this a hundred times, Bruce. It's like sliding down the pole on the jungle gym, just without the pole."

She was sort of right. The harness looped around his thighs and around his waist. The clip was right at his midsection. As Bruce leaned backwards out of the hovering jet, eyes squeezed shut, he realized dimly that it was a lot like belaying down a cliff. Without a cliff. He clutched at the lead rope and opened his eyes. Widow was right above him in the doorway. She nodded at him. "Sit back," she said calmly. "You'll swing a bit, but then I'll lower you down."

Bruce took a deep breath and did as he was told. True to her words, he did swing a bit, but then he was fairly stable as he was quickly lowered to the grass. Captain American and Iron Man were directly underneath – Tony had his face mask open and his arms outstretched, as though trying to catch him. Bruce couldn't help but laugh. Tony had a way of reducing his blood pressure at times, even while trying to raise it.

A moment later, he was down. Cap had him out of his harness in a moment. Bruce looked up – and gasped as Natasha came sliding down the rope without a harness of any kind. Cap looked up and grinned. Holding the rope taut, he leaned forward just enough to provide Widow with a platform. She landed on his shoulders and spring-boarded lightly to the ground. "That was fun."

"Looked like it," Bruce chuckled. "So let's move in and see what else is here for entertainment."

Tony beamed and drew Bruce to him, arm lightly resting on his teammates shoulder. "I like the way that sounded."

Widow melted back into the shadows, no doubt on her way to rendezvous with Fury's dispatched field team. Coulson would likely be there.

Captain America stepped around them to lead the way. "Careful guys. Intelligent or not, they are still powerful and dangerous. Let's see if we can keep this calm."

"I'm always calm," Tony insisted as they moved. "When am I not calm?"

Bruce rolled his eyes and kept walking. They found faint traces of dead fire; black swathes of charcoal on the bark of the trees lining the paths. Bruce scraped a few samples into a specimen jar, just in case.

Tony was stomping ahead in his Iron Man suit, complaining about the heat and the need for him to improve the internal cooling tubes that ran through his flight suit. His rant was cut off by a ping from Jarvis. "Sir, I'm picking up rather extraordinary heat signals one hundred and seven degrees northwest of your current position. One hundred and five. One hundred and—"

"Thank you Jarvis, I think we know we're going the right way." Tony held his arm up and a small device that look like a camera with an incredibly long, thin lens unfolded from his arm, extending out to nearly twelve inches. "Bio scan, if you would."

"It's unlike anything in my database, Sir," Jarvis said after a minute. "There are either a multitude of creatures or one very large one. Their signatures are somewhat reminiscent of Master Thor's energy."

"And he's a tough guy to scan," Tony muttered. "Loki?"

"I don't believe so Sir. The scepter gave off a very distinct signal and this does not match the signal I recorded previously."

"Well, this is going to be an interesting day," Tony said, withdrawing the scanner and clapping his hands together.

Steve gave him a wry grin. "You mean the giant bird and the orange dragon weren't interesting enough?" He nodded to a path veering slightly off the main walkway they were on. "I'll go down this way, you keep walking straight ahead. Bruce?"

Bruce was already pushing his way near-silently through the underbrush on the other side; years of experience in escaping government goons serving him well. He'd had to force his way through jungle growth where there were no paths, climb hills and rocks where there were no stairs – the bushes of Central Park were no match for him. "I've got it, Cap."

He could hear Tony grumbling about something and then there was a thump overhead. He looked up and saw falling leaves and a – was that a zip line? "Clint?"

A chuckle came over his comm. "Reed's probably gonna complain about the earthquake that hit his tower," he said. Bruce could hear the amusement in his voice. "I was in a hurry so it wasn't my gentlest landing."

"You are my new favorite Avenger," Tony chimed in. "Next time, take out his satellite dish. That would make my day."

"I already was your favorite Avenger," Clint corrected him with a sniff.

"Clint, how's it look up there?" Steve cut in firmly.

There was a moment of silence and then Clint came back. "You're heading in the right direction," he said quietly. "I can see the dragon from up here – there's a small clearing in the brush about fifty yards ahead of you, Bruce. Tony, you're on target. Cap, veer about twenty two degrees to your left."

Natasha materialized at Steve's side, making him bite back an obvious yelp of surprise. "There is a team about one hundred yards back and holding for your signal," she said quietly and then she turned to follow Bruce's trail.

Bruce waited for her to catch up before pushing aside the last bits of flora to reach the clearing. Tony was already there, helmet off and staring at a grouping of… animals? Creatures? Steve was suddenly next to him and Bruce could hear his intake of breath at the sight.

"Whoa," came Clint's whisper over the comm lines.

That one word seemed to sum everything up.

* * *

The bird wasn't there that they could see, but there were three creatures standing before them, eyes narrowed and muscles tensed. Obviously they would attack if they didn't like what they saw, and Bruce took a deep breath, trying to control the pulsing urge with his brain that was the Hulk, who was on the verge of forcing his way out, out of sheer curiosity.

The dragon, a rat-like creature, and what seemed to be a white-furred monkey stood there like a living wall. The dragon's tail lashed to one side, the flame flaring bright, and it growled, dripping embers and snorting smoke into the cooling air. Bruce noted the flames touching the grass and trees seemed to go out almost instantly, leaving behind the same kind of charcoal residue he had scraped off moments before.

Beside the dragon, the yellow rat with rabbit sized ears on guard, all four tiny legs spread and ready as if to launch itself at the first Avenger who moved. Its red-marked cheeks were sparking with some form of electricity, but it didn't seem to be in pain. Indeed, marveled the fascinated Bruce, it was like the creature itself was generating its own electrical current. The lightning shaped tail and zigzag marks on its back were obvious tells.

The monkey looked the fiercest though. Eyes burned like charred embers, and its teeth were grit, showing massive fangs. Unlike the dragon, who was unmoving in its stance, the monkey-creature was shifting from foot to foot with clenched fists, and Bruce was afraid it was seconds from attacking. In fact, it had taken a step towards the tree Clint had perched himself in, as though it wanted to climb up there and rip him apart. But the rat had growled something – 'pica? Pi ka?' – and the monkey had stood down, albeit reluctantly. It seemed almost absurd – a large dragon with razor sharp fangs, a fire-breathing monkey - and it was the tiny yellow rat that was the boss?

"They're not stupid," Bruce murmured over the comms. "We should see if they can be reasoned with. Steve?"

Steve nodded. He took a slow step forward, showing his empty hands, shield slung behind his back. "We don't want to hurt you," he said calmly, firmly. "Do you understand me?" He tilted his head to one side and directed his attention to the dragon. "I think you do, at least on some level. You helped save the people in that helicopter. You understood they were in danger and you knew what to do to keep the plane from crashing long enough for your bird friend to help out. Right?"

There was a long, silent pause as man and dragon stared each other down. The dragon broke its gaze away to confer with the yellow rat who looked up – and gave a short nod. Bruce gasped silently, and beside him, he could feel Tony practically vibrating in place with excitement. Steve never wavered. The dragon swung its head back, looked Steve in the eye and nodded, growling lowly.

Steve let out a breath, and smiled, though he was careful not to show his teeth, just in case. "I thought so. My name is Steve." He held out his hand awkwardly.

Over the coms, Clint barked a near silent laugh. "Seriously? He's introducing himself to—"

The archer cut himself off as the dragon slowly reached out to grip Steve's hand in its paw, careful not to let the razor-sharp claws touch his gloves. At Steve's side, Natasha tensed, but she didn't bring out her weapon. Bruce breathed easier. The dragon shook once, and then let go, still maintaining eye contact. It growled something.

The monkey-creature jerked, and started at the dragon, who growled again, this time louder. After a moment, the monkey nodded and closed its eyes. A few seconds later, it reopened them – the sclera had changed from glowing red to a white color, like the human eye. The flame-like glow surrounding its body faded, and the fire on its head went from raging inferno down to a hair-shaped conflagration.

"Fascinating," Bruce murmured.

"I know, right?" Tony was grinning wildly. "Seriously, there is so much I want to know and do right now, I can't even think of a place to start!" The dragon shot him a glare – yes, that was definitely a glare – that made Tony blink and wave his arms. "Nothing bad, I swear! But I've never seen anything like you three before! You're amazing!" The yellow rat cocked its head at Tony, obviously assessing the man's intent. Then it gave a small smile and chirp. Tony crowed. "See? They like me! Everyone does, you know."

The monkey snorted and then turned around, stomping into the bush. Tony made as if to follow but the dragon's tail was suddenly stretched across his path. Steve was there in a flash, pushing Tony back gently. "Hang on a second, Tony."

"They're obviously hiding something back there," Tony stated plainly. He looked up at the dragon. "Right? Something important?"" He gestured to himself and all of the Avengers. "Man, I wish Thor was here. That All-Speak of his would come in handy right now. Look, like Stars-and-Stripes here said, we don't want to hurt you. We can help you. You can trust us."

The rat and dragon exchanged yet another look. The uncertainty they felt shone through as clear as day. Bruce crouched down, addressing the rat, who was apparently in charge. The rat focused on him and took a step forward so they were in the middle of the two groups, each apparently speaking for their own side.

Bruce made firm eye contact. He knew that wasn't always the smart thing to do around normal Earth animals, but these creatures had such an air of humanity about them. "I've always believed that animals could sense a person's true intentions," he said, speaking calmly and quietly. He held his hand out, open and nonthreatening. The rat stepped forward, shooting looks from his eyes to his hand and back again. "Be as sure as you need to be. I don't mind."

The rat crept ever closer. Bruce didn't look away, but he could feel the dragon's eyes on him. He had no doubt that if he appeared to be any kind of a threat, the dragon would unleash a fireball on his head. He had no intention of letting the Hulk out at such a vulnerable time, but it would be hard under those circumstances. He had to remain calm. He blinked as a cool pressure touched his fingertips.

The creature's furry snout pushed against him lightly, sniffing. Its ears, laid back as they'd been all along, slowly began to rise in a show of what Bruce took to be curiosity. The rat sniffed again, and then sat up on its hind legs, bringing them face-to-face. Bruce gazed calmly into its eyes, smiling softly, letting it take its time. Finally the creature gave a small smile in return. "Pika!" it chirped, and held out one tiny paw, imitating what Steve had done earlier. Bruce carefully grasped the paw in his hand and gently shook it. He braced instinctively for an electrical charge, but was pleasantly surprised when nothing happened. "I'm Bruce," he found himself saying automatically. He could feel the Hulk pressing against his mind – not enough to evoke a change, but enough that he could tell the Hulk was curious. "It's nice to meet you."

"Pee-ka-chu!" came the response and he grinned with renewed fascination as the creature tapped its chest as it spoke.

"Is that your name?' Bruce guessed. "Pee-kah-chu?"

The rat nodded. Tony crouched down as well and did the same thing, as did Steve. The rat touched its nose to all of their hands, staring them down before returning the greeting.

Then it turned and looked at the dragon and repeated its name – or parts of it, at least, Bruce realized. Its name seemed to also be a form of dialect. The dragon growled in response – obviously understanding, even though it hadn't made any discernible semblance of speech – and then trudged through the bushes after the monkey. The rat turned to follow, and then looked at the group of them, waving its little arm in an obvious, 'come on' gesture.

"You heard the rat," Tony said, and moved swiftly after it before Steve or Bruce could stop him.

"Tony!" Clint yelped. Bruce swung his gaze upward and only saw a few shaking tree leaves as the archer followed his partner through the treetops. Bruce mused that Clint must have been concerned if he'd left clues to show he'd been there at all.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Bruce shrugged and pushed his way through the shrubbery. He heard Steve mutter something behind him but he was almost all the way through and Tony was saying something.

"There's a kid back here," Tony called out suddenly. Tasha muttered something in Russian before she stepped back and melted into the undergrowth. She was likely headed back to the squadron for medical backup.

Steve and Bruce exchanged looks, and then Bruce was forcefully pushing his way through the undergrowth. The tangled brush and tree branches eventually gave way to an even tinier clearing beside some boulders. A small indentation in them gave the illusion of a very shallow cave, and lying curled against it was a young man. Bruce glanced over him quickly and guessed his age to be between thirteen and sixteen, approximately. The dragon lay by his feet, long tail draped carefully along the boy's torso, the fiery tip fully elevated away from vulnerable clothing – keeping him warm, Bruce realized. The yellow rat had wiggled its way under the boy's half-curled arm, nosing the lax fingers. The monkey stood guard at the child's head, fists loosely clenched. "You're protecting him," Bruce said quietly, slowing easing himself forward. "Is he your friend? Owner?"

The rat nodded, and leaned forward, nosing the child's cheek. A weak mumble came from the boy. "...k'chu..."

"Pee kah pee," the rat said sadly, rubbing its nose against the boy again as though trying to wake him up. A squawk from above had them all jerking their heads up to see the giant brown and white bird from the helicopter rescue perched on a branch just above them, glaring down fiercely. Her wings were spread, her talons digging into the branches. Her eyes flashed from the group below to where Clint was crouched in a neighboring treetop. The rat looked up. "Chu pee! Pee pee kah chu!"

The bird subsided somewhat, though her gaze was firmly fixed on Clint for the time being. Steve and Bruce exchanged a look. The yellow rat seemed to _definitely _be the leader. Tony leaned forward to peer over Bruce's shoulder, eyes roving over the kid with assessing gaze. "Doesn't look too hurt," Tony commented in a low tone. "I don't see any blood, no obvious injuries."

"Doesn't mean there aren't any," cautioned Steve. He made as if to move closer, but Bruce waved him back.

"Let's take this one at a time," he suggested, nodding at the tension slowly building again in the monkey creature. Tony leaned back and Bruce directed his attention back to the rat. "May I take a closer look at him?" Bruce asked. He spread his hands out carefully. "I won't hurt him. I'm a doctor. I want to help him." Did the rat know what a doctor was?

The rat nodded but didn't move. He chirped something and the dragon lifted his tail, moving out of the way so Bruce could get closer. The first thing Bruce did was carefully remove the faded ball cap perched precariously on the boy's head. The monkey growled and snatched it immediately out of his hands, guarding it carefully. Bruce blinked; he took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and smiled. "Okay, that obviously is important. Better you hold it than me."

The monkey snorted.

Tony edged a little closer again, holding out his gauntlet. "Jarvis isn't picking up any internal injuries," he reported quietly. "But the kid's vital signs are really low and he's running a massive fever." He whistled lowly. "How does such a normal-lookin' kid end up with so many awesomely strange pets?"

"Couldn't tell you." Bruce took a few minutes to run his fingers lightly over the blackish-blue hair, feeling the skull beneath. "No major trauma that I can feel," he murmured. "A few small bumps, but nothing too serious." He pinched the skin lightly on the boy's hand and watched as the skin sank down slowly. "A bit dehydrated." He put a light hand on the child's face, wincing at the dry heat. "Can you hear me? My name is Bruce. I'm a doctor. Can you open your eyes?"

The boy moaned softly, and his eyelashes fluttered but didn't quite open all the way.

There was a rustling in the undergrowth, and Natasha stepped forward. "Phil has arranged for SHIELD transport. Director Fury wants the boy and the animals taken to the Helicarrier—"

"Over my dead body," Tony snorted. He backtracked quickly when Natasha raised a finely shaped eyebrow at him. "I mean, come on. These are intelligent creatures. Fury'll have 'em locked up in the prison bay or whatever."

"Shut up Stark." Natasha quelled him with a look before switching her attention back to Bruce. "As I was saying, the director wants them on the Helicarrier, but Coulson has convinced him that we can better contain the creatures ourselves in the tower. Jarvis's defenses are more than adequate." She nodded back the way she'd come. "Clint will direct them in here." Bruce looked up and saw that Clint had indeed disappeared from his perch.

"Adequate?" Tony sounded insulted. "Adequate?!"

"Good," said Bruce, once again ignoring his friends sputtering. He turned one of the boy's arms over and noted a deep gash on the forearm. A defensive wound. The angry red tinge bleeding out from it and the tight, shiny skin spelled infection. His first thought made him glance at the dragon, zeroing in on the sharp talons on the paws and feet. As though reading his mind, the dragon snorted a small fireball in his direction and then shook its massive head. Not the dragon then.

"Looks like a knife wound," Natasha commented knowledgeably, peering over his shoulder. "Clean, sharp, deep. Kitchen knife, I'd say. Hard to trace." Bruce didn't argue with her assessment.

"He was attacked," Tony confirmed. A holographic image of a police report hovered over his gauntlet. "Jarvis was scanning all of the reports SHIELD got. A kid matching this one's description was attacked by some muggers, two of them, one armed with a knife. Before the witness could help, a dragon – this one, I presume – swooped down and blew fire over all of them. They all suffered mild first degree burns on their arms and faces and—" Tony gave a slight chuckle – "—massive hair loss, but no permanent injuries. The kid ran off, and the dragon flew away overhead."

"Any other attacks?"

"If there were, no one reported them," Tony confirmed.

Bruce ran his hand along the child's right leg and felt a large mass over the ankle joint. He began to raise the pant leg, and the boy let out a pained cry.

"Pee kah pee!" the rat cried out, and whirled around, glaring at Bruce. It's cheeks seemed to sizzle with barely-restrained electricity.

He froze. "I'm sorry," Bruce said, gently but firmly. "I'm not trying to hurt him, but I need to see what his injuries are so I can help him." He began to carefully move his arm again, much slower this time.

The animals all seemed to relax a fraction, but Bruce was keenly aware of all the eyes on him as he coaxed the fabric out of the way. Then he blinked in shock and surprise at what he saw.

Leaves and vines were tightly wound around the boy's ankle. A large, flat rock was keeping firm pressure on the wound. Blood had leaked out and dried on and around the wound but the flow was definitely slowed, if not stopped altogether. Based on the swelling, the black and blue bruising reaching up the boy's calf muscle, and the distorted shape of the leaves, Bruce was willing to guess a compound fracture of some kind. He looked closer – small marks – from teeth and claws, no doubt – littered the leaves and vines. Apparently, the child had not bound his own injuries.

Natasha cursed under her breath again and then tapped her finger to her comm, turning aside slightly to report the details.

Steve breathed in sharply. "They treated his wound?"

Bruce nodded, somewhat shocked. "As best they could."

Tony whistled in response. "Ooooh... that looks bad." He nodded at the dragon. "Well, now we know why this one was trying to rob a pharmacy."

"I'm not going to open this up," Bruce said. He looked up at the animals watching him, giving them an impressed nod. "You managed to bind the wound and keep pressure on it," he continued with awe. He looked at the other Avengers. "If that's not proof of sentient intelligence, I don't know what is."

There was a beep in the quiet that startled them all, and then Natasha broke in. "Transport is here. They can't get through the brush easily, so I suggest we bring the boy to them - if he's able to be moved."

Bruce nodded. "His spine and neck are intact and there's no deep bruising. But how can we do it without hurting him more?"

Suddenly the dragon snorted and spread his wings. Bruce fell back against Tony in surprise, and Steve moved out of the way. The monkey carefully reached down, removed the rock, and picked up his – _Owner? Master?_ - cradling him gently and setting him down in the outstretched arms of the dragon. The boy whimpered but a few gruff growls from the dragon seemed to settle him.

"I think they understood that," Tony said casually, as they all backed up.

Natasha frowned, scanning her eyes upward. "There is almost complete tree cover here. How will they get him out into the open without hitting anything?"

As though to answer her question, the rat leaped onto the dragon's shoulder and called out a sharp warning to the bird. Its small paws waved in some sort of sign language, punctured by quick 'pika's'. Above them, the bird gave a screech that apparently acknowledged whatever the rat had... said?... and suddenly its wings shone a silvery steel.

"What the heck?" Steve gaped.

The bird launched itself off the tree it was perched in and streaked upward leaving behind a glowing contrail of white, shearing away branches and outreaching twigs, and clearing a smooth path directly upwards. The monkey leaped into the air after it, swinging by his feet. It caught the falling branches with ease in its massive hands – and even its tail - and chucked them off to the side, letting the smaller ones fall to the grassy floor.

The path now clear, the dragon growled and pumped its massive wings, rising into the air with its unconscious master. The giant bird led the way, and the monkey swung through the air below the flight party.

"Let's go!" Steve turned and led the way back through the undergrowth to the main path where a group of SHIELD officers were waiting with a hovering medi-bed (a new development from Stark Bio-Medical Research). Bruce followed, and as he reached the medi-bed, he looked up to see the dragon circling above.

The SHIELD officers immediately pulled their weapons, taking aim. Tony flew up and hovered directly beneath the dragon, blocking the line of sight of the officers. "Hey, cut it out!"

"Lower your weapons," Steve ordered, raising his shield in a show of power. "NOW."

Natasha had her own gun out, aimed at the officers. Clint suddenly manifested at her side, bow drawn and arrow aimed. Natasha cocked her head. "You heard Captain America."

"I'd listen to her, boys," Clint suggested in an easy tone that was at odds with the steel in his eyes. "She hasn't had a chance to shoot anyone all day."

The officers wavered, and then Phil Coulson was waving the officer's down. With a great deal of reluctance, the SHIELD officers holstered their weapons – but kept fearful eyes on the angry-looking predator overhead. Phil sighed, and walked over to his agents, raising his brow. "Are you completely sure about this?"

Bruce breathed a sigh of relief as Natasha nodded firmly, and Clint backed her up. Everyone then backed away as Iron Man led the dragon to the ground. A final thump, and then Iron Man was helping the dragon set its precious cargo onto the medi-bed and stepping back. Bruce moved forward to help lead the med-bed to the waiting ambulance. "Let's go," he said.

The yellow rat had settled onto the chest of its master. One of the officers tried to shoo it away with his gun before Bruce could intervene, and suddenly the air was filled with static electricity. Iron Man backed off before he could conduct any of it in a negative way. "No!" he shouted frantically. "You'll hurt the boy more!"

The electricity instantly fizzled out, and the rat turned to face its owner, nuzzling his cheek worriedly. Bruce breathed a sigh of relief. "The rat comes with us," he ordered briskly, and directed the officers to each grab the sides to guide the med-bed smoothly. He helped load the bed into the ambulance and then hauled himself up after it.

Meanwhile Natasha was frog-marching the rash-acting officer over to Phil. "We can handle it from here," she said, giving the terrified officer a cool look.

"Very well." Phil waved at the large van he'd apparently requisitioned before sending the terrified officer over to a group of Shield members about to return to the Helicarrier. The van driver saluted and started the engine. "I believe the trip will be much calmer and safer if the creatures were to utilize this rather than their usual mode of transportation." He patted the van door.

The monkey and the dragon were reluctantly coaxed into the van with Captain America after repeated scoldings by the electric rat, but nothing could coax the giant bird from flying high in the sky.

"No worries," Tony said. He opened his helmet and flew up to meet the hovering creature. "You can follow me, okay? Your buddy is gonna stay at my place. It's a first class joint all the way, I promise."

The bird actually _nodded_, and Tony flipped his faceplate down, grinning with anticipation. "Let's move out, people!"

* * *

**End chapter 1**

* * *

Soooo…. Whew…the fic is over 20,000 words so far and keeps growing. I have no idea when it will end and frankly, I'm enjoying writing it too much to care.

Any and all feedback, particularly C&C is highly valued. I read this thing over 4 more times, plus waited 2 days and read it again in an attempt to catch errors and I think I got most of them but I never do. .;; Also, I write in chunks – a paragraph here, a paragraph there – whatever I feel like writing – and then I try to link them together at the end, so if there are any major discrepancies, please inform me.

Also, I KNOW Charizard wasn't with Ash during those episodes. There's a reason he's here, so please don't feel the need to inform me of those details. I have those eps on DVD, I have those eps downloaded on my pc and I've been surfing Bulbapedia religiously since I started writing this. If I've eliminated something, it's because I wanted/needed to eliminate it. Or vice versa – it's been added because I need it.

So yeah, hoping you enjoyed this. More to come!


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** IronPika

**Author:** Stormy1x2

**Word Count:** 8600

**Notes:** A chapter of pure fun for me to write, not so much in the way of plot development (that comes later). Let me have my enjoyment? Please? Nuts. Okay, plot development next chapter, I solemnly swear.

If this chapter looks any good at all, it is because of **Vuurvlieg **catching all my nasty little mistakes. I haven't had a beta reader in years (which is horribly obvious in most of my woks) and I'd forgotten how much fun it is to have a 2nd pair of eyes read and toss out ideas that I hadn't even considered yet. Thank you V! Also, V is the reason this chapter is ready to go now and not a week from now.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The boy was in bad shape but thankfully it was all easily fixable. Bruce worked with the paramedics in the Shield ambulance, showing them the wounded ankle. The boy would need surgery to fix that, but they were able to set up an IV of fluids to combat the dehydration and another of painkillers so the child wouldn't keep feeling what had to be agonizing pain.

Bruce took it upon himself to clean and patch the knife wound on the kid's arm while the paramedics began cleaning and checking the broken ankle. His arm had started to heal but he put a few stitches in it anyway to hopefully prevent huge amounts of scarring. "Any luck on finding a name yet?"

"This kid doesn't exist in any database known to mankind," shot back Tony. "Jarvis has been searching nonstop since we found him and there's nada, zilch, zippo—"

"We get it, Tony," Coulson cut in calmly. "Keep looking though. Until he wakes up, we have no means of identifying him."

"I vote we call him Tony Jr."

"Why would we punish the child?" Natasha queried over the comm lines.

"The dragon is giving me an evil look," Clint said calmly. "I'd like to register my complaint at being someone's barbeque."

"Your complaint is noted," Coulson replied from the lead van. "Now shut. UP."

The comms went quiet – just in time for the child to cry out in agony. He wrenched his arm away from Bruce who then tried to keep him still. The rat who had been sitting quietly at the side of the bed, leaped onto his chest and began squeaking 'Pika's' at him, nuzzling the side of his face. Bruce found the box of medications – the paramedic unlocked them. Bruce scanned them for a higher dosage.

"I'd like to point out that the giant dragon and the monkey that can set himself on fire? They can hear the kid. Please tell me you have good news for them." Clint's voice sounded strained.

Bruce looked down at his communicator, realization flashing over him. He pulled it off his shirt and held it up to the rat. "Can you tell them to calm down?" he asked urgently. "We're doing our best but until the medicine begins to work, he's going to feel some pain. We're doing our best to help your friend, I promise you."

The rat was a little wild-eyed itself, but it looked from the weakly thrashing child to the communicator and then nodded. A few sharp squeaks into it, and suddenly Clint was back online. "Oh thank god."

"Clint?" Coulson again.

"Well…. on the positive side, the dragon is no longer trying to peel the roof off like a can opener."

Bruce was afraid to ask. He motioned for the paramedic to inject the boy. Within seconds he was calming and falling into a deeper sleep. The rat nodded approvingly. "And on the negative?"

"The monkey managed to burn a hole in the bottom of the van." Clint was starting to sound chipper again. "If we all stay to the back, no one's in danger of falling through."

There was a thud, a yelp, and the sound of fabric ripping. "This isn't going to work," said Natasha a moment later. "Agent Shirkston almost went through the floor. The high temperature has made a larger portion of the floor unstable than what we can easily see."

Tony was outright cackling over their communication cards.

"Agent Coulson?" Steve's voice was only the tiniest bit timid-sounding over the comms.

"I'll have the driver pull over," Phil sighed. The comms crackled. "You will switch transports. Another vehicle will be sent to pick up the Shield agents."

Bruce put his head down and laughed along with Tony.

* * *

Bruce finished a final adjustment to the catheter and double-checked the IV. The child had come through surgery on his ankle like a pro and with all luck and some rehabilitation, it would heal completely. The surgery itself had been a bit daunting – what with a dragon, a flaming monkey, an electrified rat and a giant bird glaring through the observational window, it was amazing the surgeons hadn't bolted for the door. Shield agents had much sterner constitutions to survive the disciples of Fury, Bruce decided.

The door opened – Clint was holding it wide allowing the rat to dodge inside. A skip and a jump and it was perched next to the boy, snuggling in close. The monkey knuckle-hopped in and immediately dialed down the flames so it could sit on one of the chairs by the bed. It had a small backpack clutched in its paws – Shield agents had found it within the den at Central Park and had passed it along to Coulson. Bruce frowned at it. Apparently there was technology in there that was incompatible with Shield computers, and Phil must have decided to just cut out the middle man and have Tony look at it himself. The monkey had caught Tony messing with it and had nearly set the sofa on fire before Tony saw the light about letting it protect it for its master.

It was an excellent thing they had decided on putting the boy in one of the Avenger recovery rooms. It was large enough to even accommodate the Hulk – provided he didn't start jumping about, as well as the entire team. Trust issues with Shield aside, when one of their team members was down, they all felt the need to be close by and this recovery room – one of two – had been built as a result. The medical floor of Avengers Tower was even more up-to-date and techno-fied (as Tony liked to put it) that the infirmary he'd built into the Shield Helicarrier at Fury's request. It was also the most secure, which went a long way to reassuring various members of the team.

Clint stepped back and the large bird flew in and perched on the rafters above. The rafters had been left in for Clint to settle himself on and the bird seemed to find them suitable. Bruce switched his gaze from the bird to the dragon now stomping its way inside. It strode right up to the bed and slowly sniffed every inch of the boy, head to toe, as well as the IV's and the various lines leading to all of the machines. The rat lifted its head and squeaked at it, waving one little arm rather imperiously. Bruce hid a grin at the sight of the large dragon reluctantly backing down. It settled with a thump in front of the sofa at the side of the room, stretched out along the floor. Propping its head up on one hand, it shut its eyes and proceeded to ignore everyone else that followed it into the room.

Clint followed, bow in hand even though it was in a relaxed grip. Clint – aside from Bruce – always preceded the team whenever he could, especially when billionaire philanthropists were concerned. Natasha would follow – unless she tripped Clint so she could be first. It was kind of adorable, the lengths two killer, cold-blooded assassins would go to, to make sure they were the first to head off anything that might endanger their team. Bruce made sure his grin was hidden though.

After them came Tony who had naturally cut ahead of Steve, much to the Captain's annoyance. Tony bounded up to the bed with his usual enthusiasm but Bruce didn't feel the need to tell him to calm down – as he reached the bed, he naturally slowed his pace and his voice dropped to a whisper. "How's he doing, little rat?"

The rat seemed to especially like Tony. It wasted no time in squeaking and chirping at him in that name-slash-language, waving it's little arms. Tony nodded and stroked his beard, pointing out the bandages and asking the rat its opinion, of which – Bruce assumed – the rat seemed happy with.

"Pee-ka-chu, pee-pee-ka-chu, pee-ka-pee," the rat rattled off.

"Glad you approve," Tony said. "Looks like your little friend here is going to be fine after he has a chance to recover a bit. Right doc?"

Bruce nodded and joined them. "His ankle is going to take a long time to heal, but it will get better," he said. The rat was listening carefully, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the monkey and the dragon listening in as well. He tried to keep the language simple, without being insulting. "His arm is fine. He's got a small case of bronchitis developing from being outside in the damp for a while with all those open wounds, but we're treating those with medicine."

The rat nodded again. The dragon appeared to go back to sleep.

"Mind if I join you?" Clint called up to the giant bird, who seemed to shrug in response and hopped over to another cross beam. Clint used the handholds on the side wall to climb up to the rafters and seat himself where he could see everyone clearly.

Tony put his hands on his hips as he glared up at the ceiling. "Do you think I can't follow you up there?"

"Nah," Clint replied. "But I know you won't. Not without your metal buddy."

"All I have to do is go back to the living room, get my bracelets, get to the platform, call the suit, come back—screw it." Tony flopped down in one of the extra chairs. "I'm good here." He flapped his hands at the archer. "Make friends with Tweety. See if I care."

"We should probably think about food for them," Steve said thoughtfully. "Did anyone happen to see the remains of what might have looked like food around that clearing?"

"I saw fish bones," Natasha said slowly. "Also, a crumpled bag of cheetos."

"Fish, junk food, at least a dozen apple cores in various stages of rot," listed Hawkeye from the ceiling. "The wrappers from a few chocolate bars, some banana peels, an egg salad sandwich wrapper, some fried chicken in a box from KFC and few containers out to catch rainwater."

There was dead silence for a minute.

"I am called 'Hawkeye' for a reason," Clint said loftily, folding his arms.

"Well, that gives us a variety to start with," Bruce said. "Who likes apples?"

It was a rhetorical question, but the rat, the dragon and the monkey all lifted a paw. The bird squawked down her confirmation as well. Bruce grinned. "Jarvis?"

"I am placing an order for a variety of apples to be delivered to the Tower. Order delivery will take approximately one hour. In the meantime, the common floor kitchen is fully stocked with a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. I have tasked You to withdraw and deliver them to the infirmary. According to my stores index, we also have several complete tuna in the third freezer set aside for Master Thor. I will place an order to replace them and have Butterfingers remove one for thawing."

"Good boy," praised Tony. "Who's the fish-eater?"

The dragon sat up, looking interested in the turn of the conversation. The bird squawked again, looking eagerly at Clint. "Tweety's up for a little bit of tuna," Clint said.

"I don't even want to know if I need to order giant litter boxes," Tony moaned. "I DO know if I have to, I'm building a robot to clean them."

Jarvis interrupted that train of thought. "If I may Sir… My scans on the creatures have revealed a very unusual internal structure." A screen suddenly appeared on the wall showing Pikachu's skeleton and internal organs. "Are you in agreement?"

Tony stared at the image for a moment. "Jarvis, are these scans complete?"

"Yes Sir."

Tony flapped his hands and sent the image over to Bruce. "Okay, I'm officially out of my field. I'm an engineer, not a medical doctor."

Bruce stared at the images, mouth slightly open. "Jarvis can you increase the details here – " he pointed at the abdomen, "- and here." The electric sacs on the rats face were highlighted.

Up above, Clint was shifting his weight on the struts. "What's going on?"

Bruce swallowed, still wrapped up in what he was seeing. "These creatures… they have the perfect internal system for waste management." If what he was seeing was accurate. Which was unbelievable, to say the least.

"…And that means what, exactly?"

Tony gave a loud cheer. "It means I don't have to design toilets for these guys!"

* * *

Bruce was still in shock an hour later as everyone was being fed. Jarvis had their pizza orders sent to the same place they always got it from (minus the four party-sized All-You-Can-Load that was Thor's favorite selection), plus additional breadsticks and salads, just in case the creatures decided they wanted to join in on their feast. You had completed the task set for him and had brought up an entire crate of fruits and vegetables that they had fallen upon.

The rat laid claim to three entire apples and seemed to be looking for something that wasn't there – Tony felt bad for it and had departed for the kitchen with it so they could conduct a more extensive search. The monkey had stolen an entire bunch of bananas plus both watermelons. Before Bruce could offer to dice them up, the dragon had leaned over and had them drawn and quartered with its claws in mere moments before returning to the fish it was slowly smoking with its own fire breath. The watermelon disappeared in short order and the monkey began perusing the oranges with a contemplating look.

The bird was keeping an eye on the fish the dragon was slowly roasting at its own speed, but seemed happy with a box of blueberries. It delicately picked one out at a time and swallowed it whole. Clint offered it a strawberry and was gratified to see it pluck the berry carefully from his fingers with a happy squawk that Clint decided was appreciation.

Tony arrived a few moments later, grinning like a loon. After him, on its two hind legs loped the little Pikachu clutching a large bottle between its paws. Bruce did a double take. "Is that a bottle of ketchup?"

"Turns out this guy is a ketchup connoisseur," Tony said, letting the door shut. "I started going through cupboards but it went right up to the fridge, sniffing like a hound dog. I tried to pour some in a dish but it held out its arms for the bottle itself. What the hell, we have more ketchup, I can have an army barracks worth of ketchup delivered."

Bruce wondered about that. Was the mouse craving the ketchup itself? Did it want - or need – tomatoes but this was the closest substitute? Across from him, Steve cleared his throat, catching his attention.

"So are you up to explaining Tony's 'no toilet' remark?" Steve asked warily.

Bruce grinned, biting into his own apple with a relish. It was crunchy and tangy, just the way he liked it. "Maybe... I'm going to have to more scans and double check everything but from what I can tell, they don't produce waste like we, or animals on earth do."

"Seriously?" Clint blinked. "They don't ever have to take a shi—"

"Seriously," Bruce interrupted him. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before – and would never have seen here on earth. Their food is digested and processed similar to us. But where we flush waste through our colon and eventually out through the body, their systems used absolutely anything and everything." He pointed to the scan of Pikachu. There was a long tube in its abdominals, much like the human colon. But instead of ending in a rectum at the end, it branched out into small pods, which had smaller branches leading out. "My best guess is that waste is transported to those pods and broken down even further, before being sent back into the system." He took an absent-minded bite out his apple. "Remember when Pikachu was sending out those static waves of electricity? They seemed to be emanating from all over its body, not just those red dots on its face."

"So, what – you're saying everything gets turned into jet fuel for its power?" Clint asked, looking skeptical.

"As these creatures – as far as I can tell – have no apparent waste elimination openings, that's what I'm saying." Bruce went to take another bite of his apple, realized he'd finished it, and tossed it aside. "Of course, this is just speculation, but with Jarvis's help, I could confirm it. This would make for one of the most interesting biological studies I've ever seen."

"Umm…" Steve cut into the conversation with a look of concern. "Doc?" He nodded behind Bruce. "I don't think they like the idea of being studied."

Bruce tuned around to see three of the four critters staring at him with flat, hard looks. "Oh…" He held his hands up. "I wouldn't do anything without, well, talking to you first," he said quickly. "Mainly take pictures like the ones I already did." He pointed at Pikachu's scan. "I'm just fascinated by you all. I don't mean any harm – I don't WANT to cause you any harm."

The dragon closed its eyes, but the monkey seemed unconvinced. It made a growling sound and glared malevolently across the room at the doctor. Pikachu looked from Bruce to the scan and back before giving a shrug of its tiny shoulders. "Pee kaa," it said nonchalantly, and then yawned.

Bruce breathed a sigh of relief.

There was a loud squawk from above and all eyes turned upward. The bird seemed to be calling to the dragon who had begun biting chunks out of the fish. For a moment, Bruce thought they would have to go and find another fish, that the dragon wouldn't share – but then it ripped a hunk off the body near the tail and chucked it up to the ceiling. The bird swooped down in a graceful dive and caught it neatly, before winging its way back up to its perch. It set the fish down and held it in place with one taloned foot. As delicately as it had eaten the blueberries, it began to pull away bits of white meat, swallowing them whole.

Clint watched, looking amused – and then blinked as the bird set a small portion of white meat down in front of him on the ledge they shared. ""For me?"

The bird actually NODDED.

Clint grinned gleefully and took a small bit for himself. Bruce smothered a laugh.

Tony looked horrified. "Do you even know where that beak has been?" he shrieked.

Clint responded by taking a larger bite.

* * *

It been just over two days since they'd found the boy and his amazing creatures. Things had seemed to settle down after that first meal. The creatures spent most of their time in the room with their friend, but the door to the infirmary remained open. Apparently they had insatiable curiosity about the Tower.

The bird could frequently be found looking out the tall windows that lined many of the rooms on the floor. Hawkeye tried to coax it up to the penthouse where it could go outside and have a real flight like it hadn't had since their arrival, but the bird would chirp sadly at him and return back to the child's room. It would stop and nuzzle the child's head, stroke his hair with its beak before settling back into a watchful pose on the struts overhead.

The monkey didn't leave at all. It glared at everyone coming in, watching wrathfully for any signs of malcontent and seemed to only relax when it was just Bruce inside. Whether that was because Bruce had been the first responder back at Central Park, or if it was some other reason altogether, Bruce couldn't be sure. The nurse Tony hired to help out was brave, but even she confessed to Bruce she preferred that he be with her while she performed her duties. She'd once read an article about chimpanzees eating a human infant and the red eyes glowing with restrained fire made her extremely nervous.

Tony once tried to go through the kids backpack for the bits of hardware he knew were in there and had been chased out while cursing the monkey in three languages when a trail of fire followed him into the hallway. It hadn't hurt him – barely even burned his clothing. Bruce wondered about that, about the sheer and total control the animals seemed to possess over their abilities.

According to the police reports, the dragon had breathed fire over the muggers who had attacked the boy and had wound up bald with only mild burns. That same dragon had breathed wreathes of fire at the Iron Man suit and had melted part of Tony's glove. That suggested a minute level of control over fire.

Bruce was wondering about the range of tests he would love to be able to set up and perform when an alarm went off on his phone. Before he could check it though, the large bird he'd left earlier napping in the rafters came screeching down the hallway. Bruce threw one arm up automatically to shield his face but he realized the bird was clutching the ends of his lab coat and pulling. Right behind it was the monkey and it had a panicked expression on its face as it gibbered wordlessly and pointed back down the way they'd come.

"I'm coming," Bruce said calmly. He had a feeling he knew what this was about.

And sure enough as he went in, he saw the child weakly moving his limbs, trying to get up. His eyes were still closed. Pikachu was frantically licking his face. The dragon was crouched on all fours, whining and pawing the floor. Bruce reached over and flicked a few switches shutting off the machines that were still screaming out warnings, and leaned over the child, feeling his forehead for fever. "Can you hear me?" he called softly.

The boy murmured something, one arm coming out from under the covers. Pikachu nuzzled it, and tried to put the blanket back over it before giving up and turning back to the boy's face, watching intently. "Pee kaa pee."

"Peekaa…chu?" The boy groaned and his eyes fluttered open and shut. "Pee ka chu…"

"Pee ka pee!" The rat went into a frenzy of wriggles and nose rubs. "Chaaa…"

Bruce smiled at the heart-warming sight, but there were a few things he really did need to check. "Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes for me?"

The boy winced but did as asked. They were warm brown eyes, fuzzy with sleep and illness, but they met Bruce's. "Who… who a-are you?" he croaked out, throat rusty with unuse.

"My name is Bruce," he said. He held up a penlight and then checked the boy's pupils quickly. The child wanted to wince away, that much was obvious, but he didn't. "What's your name?"

"Ash… Ketchum…" the boy managed to get out before a yawn overtook him. "Fr'm… Pallet Town…"

* * *

The intercom in Tony's lab came to life.

"Just thought you might want to know," Bruce's voice drawled over the comms. "The kid's awake and his name is Ash Ketchum."

Tony looked up, blinking through a pair of goggles that made him look owl-eyed. His hair was standing on hand, victim to multiple rakes through it when the engineer couldn't instantly fix the gears he was repairing on the elbow joint of his Iron Man suit. He was covered in oil patches and he had two days worth of growth starting to cover his trademark goatee. Clint figured he'd been about an hour, maybe two hours tops out of dragging the engineer out by his ear. "What? Huh?"

"The kid's awake," Hawkeye repeated, jumping down from the vent that passed through the ceiling, just over Tony's main work table. He was careful not to dislodge any of the tools as he did so; the engineer could be so cranky when his things were moved by anyone but himself. Or Dummy. "And he has a name."

"Jarvis?" Tony was still looking wide-eyed and slightly confused, as he often did when he was sleep-deprived.

"Scanning the name now, Sir. Might I suggest a taking a moment to refresh yourself? It has been nearly thirty-six hours."

"Thirty-six…. Yeah." Tony blinked again and stared at Clint. "Refresh what?"

Clint grinned and slowly took the soldering tool from Tony's lax grip, making sure to show the man what he was doing the entire time. He stabbed it into the sponge a few times, just the way Tony had shown him to, and then put it back in the stand. "C'mon, Tones – you need a shower before you can declare yourself fit for company. The stench coming off you would knock the kid out again."

"It would not!" Tony was starting to truly wake up now, back from the world he disappeared to when in his lab. "I need coffee—"

"You need food," Clint said, cutting him off kindly. "And here comes Dummy with a KitKat bar. That'll do for now." The treat was being held out by one of Tony's oldest 'bots – a conglomeration of bits and parts welded onto a solid steel frame, augmented by a powerful transmission system and wheels that allowed him to move easily around the obstacle course that was Tony's lab. A long extended metal 'arm' housed a camera with infra-red capabilities, and was surrounded by three claws that allowed it to grip a multitude of things, not the least of which was the chocolate treat Clint now took carefully from it. Peeling the wrapper off, he stuck half of it into Tony's mouth when the billionaire opened it, no doubt to start a rant about why he couldn't possibly leave the lab at this time, and began maneuvering the man to the elevator. "There ya go. Eat that, shower, change of clothes, and you might almost be presentable to the public."

The sheer look of outrage Tony leveled at him was just beautiful.

* * *

"Sir, there is no record of any Ash Ketchum in any database I am legally privy to," Jarvis calmly informed them.

Tony looked up as if to argue but Clint pointed at the nice sandwich Natasha had generously presented to him and he was reminded that if he did not eat said sandwich, Natasha would be trying out her knife collection on him sans safety word. He dutifully ate the sandwich and didn't even complain about the lack of extra mustard.

Steve looked up at the ceiling (he was still having a hard time breaking that habit when speaking to Jarvis). "What about his home town?"

"There is no record of a 'Pallet Town' located in the United States. Should I try for a global scan?"

"Why not," Tony mumbled between bites of turkey on rye bread. Lettuce and bits of onion scattered everywhere. Clint silently handed him a napkin. Neatness freaks, all of them. "Go for it, J."

"Global scan commencing. Approximate time until completion: four hours."

"Well that certainly gives us time to talk to him." Phil walked into the room, nodding at the Avengers. He carried a small leather briefcase. Steve nodded, Clint waved, and Tony bit into a sour pickle. "Who got Tony to eat?"

"No one ever refuses one of Natasha's sandwiches," Clint said solemnly.

"True." Phil actually cracked a very small smile for that. It didn't stay long, however. "Director Fury is very interested in learning more about these animals."

"I sent a file," Tony grumbled. "Had the scans and everything."

"Indeed. Which is why he's interested in learning more." Phil sat down on a chair Steve politely pulled out for him and he nodded his thanks. "Do we know where these animals come from? I doubt we're going to find fossil records of them here on earth."

"You suggesting they're aliens, sir?" Steve wrinkled his nose. "The boy looks human enough."

"He does, they don't. It's one of many questions I am expected to answer." Phil shot a look at Clint. "You and Natasha missed your scheduled debriefing. And the rescheduled. Your paperwork is now two and a half days overdue. You are picking up bad habits from Mr Stark, and I don't like it."

Tony couldn't help it – he cackled. Loudly. Phil glared at him as well.

"I wouldn't talk, Stark. Your paperwork from a week ago is still missing."

Tony stopped cackling and swallowed a cucumber slice. "It was my explosion, in my Tower. Exactly why do I need to fill out a form for that?"

"Because it was for Avenger business," Phil said calmly. He opened his briefcase and extracted a sheaf of papers. "I've simplified it as best I can for you. All you have to do is fill in the blanks."

Tony look insulted. "Simplified?" He'd show them 'simplified.'

Bruce's voice came over the intercom system installed throughout the Tower. "He's asleep again guys, no rush to get down here. I do have some information to share with the class though."

"Go for it Jolly Green." Tony slurped his water annoyingly, crunching an ice cube between his teeth. Steve rolled his eyes, but Clint took the water away. "Hey!"

"If this kid is to be believed, he came here through some kind of portal," Bruce said.

Phil's head snapped up. "Similar to Loki's portal?"

"Not that I can tell," Bruce replied. "This portal was apparently created by using animals similar to what Ash has in his possession – but stronger. More rare, I guess. He called them 'Legendaries' and apparently there was a 'bad guy' – " Everyone could hear the quotes around those words. "—who used these Legendaries to open up a portal into a new dimension."

"That's what Loki's portal did," Clint said, swallowing hard. His face was calm but his lips were white, pulled tight with tension. His toes were tapping the ground.

"But he did it with magic and a scepter. This guy did it with supposed legendary creatures. And there's no army involved this time – apparently the guy was supposed to come through alone, to an untainted land that he could control."

"It's always world domination," Tony said, shaking his head. He tapped Clint's leg and offered a pickle; the archer opened his mouth for him to toss it in. "Don't these idiots know the paperwork involved in running a planet?"

"What would you know about paperwork for anything?" Phil shot back, looking mildly amused. "Doctor Banner, does the child – "

"Ash," Bruce cut in firmly.

"-…Fine. Does Ash know how to reopen the portal?"

"I have no idea. He was half-asleep while he was talking to me as it is. He's been here for approximately three months, based on both the reports and what he's been able to tell me. Apparently our calendar system is similar to what they use in his dimension " And oh, thought Tony, did Bruce sound excited about that. "—as well as some of the technology. The major difference is of course, his dimension is literally FULL of Pokémon –"

"Say what?" Tony interrupted yet again.

"That's what he calls the creatures. His Pokémon." Bruce cleared his throat. "Anyway, his world is full of creatures like these and more, creatures that battle and listen to their trainers—"

"Trainers?" Steve this time.

"Ash is a Pokémon trainer. He catches these things and trains them. Exactly what that training entails, well, we didn't get that far. He's been one for approximately four and a half years, and he said he started when he was ten –"

"Good call on the age," complimented Clint. "I was going to guess twelve."

"…look, I'll just wait until you're here, shall I? Otherwise I'll never get through the notes I took."

"Please continue, Bruce," Phil said, shooting the rest of them a warning look.

"He tried to hide his animals after discovering that they were quite different from the ones here. Apparently he can't hide the dragon – he fell asleep before he could tell me why. He was chased on the street quite regularly – well, this IS New York," Bruce trailed off, obviously a bit perturbed by the thought of a child alone on the streets. "He was able to defend himself for the most part – apparently being chased didn't bother him too much."

"Perhaps he's a child fighter where he's from," Phil commented, adding a note to his clipboard. He'd been jotting down the information as Bruce gave it over the system.

"Some of this I'm just inferring," Bruce clarified. "He really was mostly asleep as I asked my questions. He didn't seem alarmed to be here – he seemed more happy to have a proper bed and some painkillers than anything else. His animals – excuse me, his Pokémon were with him and that calmed him down from the start. I guess if they're okay, then he's okay."

"You're suggesting a symbiotic relationship?" Phil asked blandly.

Tony started laughing again.

It was easy to hear Bruce smiling over the intercom system. "Not quite," he said with a chuckle. "Just that he worries about his creatures. As long as they're healthy, then he has nothing to worry about."

"I wouldn't argue with that," Clint said. "If you had a seven foot tall dragon and a fire-breathing monkey playing bodyguard, wouldn't you be feeling a bit confident?"

"Not to speak of a rat that can electrify you without having to touch you," Bruce agreed. "It makes me wonder what the bird can do besides fly."

There was a squawk in the background.

"Careful what you say there, Doc," Steve cautioned with a grin.

"I have a feeling we'll find out otherwise," sighed Bruce. "Okay, so that's about all I've got for now. I think you should hold off on visiting – he's sleeping naturally and he could use the rest. I'll join you guys for lunch if Jarvis doesn't mind monitoring?"

"As always, it is my pleasure to assist in any way, Doctor Banner."

"Too late, I'm done," Tony said, standing up. He brushed the crumbs off his jeans and tossed the napkin at the sink. "I want to ask the mouse how he feels about charging for science." He blinked, as though just realizing something. "Also, Jarvis? Cancel the world scan."

"World scan cancelled, Sir."

"I highly doubt a digital multimeter is going to going to hold up to the wattage that little guy puts out," Bruce said thoughtfully. "But if we modified it a bit…" He muttered something in the background and a resoundingly cheerful 'Pi ka CHU!' echoed. "Sounds like the rat's in. It seems a lot happier now that Ash has been awake to reassure it."

"Brucey, baby! Forget reassurances – back to the science! Modification is what Stark Tower is all about!" Tony waved at the group and fairly bounced out of the kitchen, shouting at Jarvis to have Dummy break out a stack of household multimeters, his sonic screwdriver, and for the rat and Bruce to meet him in his lab. The intercom switched off.

"Did he say sonic…" Phil trailed off, not wanting to continue with that train of thought.

"Bruce, Tony and electricity." Steve sounded dismayed. "Why do I think there are going to be explosions involved?"

"Because you said Bruce, Tony and electricity," Clint said cheerfully. "I'm gonna go watch until Ash wakes up again." He jumped on to the counter and unscrewed the overhead vent in a matter of moments. Pulling himself through, he replaced the vent, screws not included and then he was gone.

Phil and Steve exchanged awkward looks. "I'm going to go and watch the boy," Phil said after a minute.

Steve nodded and then looked anxiously in the direction wherein had gone a crazy scientist and an even crazier archer. "I'll go… keep an eye on things."

"Excellent idea." Phil looked to the opposite end of the kitchen that led to the living room. It seemed empty. He knew better. "Will you be joining me?"

"Yes sir," Natasha said coolly, stepping into view. She flicked one of her Widow's Bites to check the charge and seemed satisfied with what she saw.

Phil picked up his briefcase and led the way.

* * *

"The monkey is missing," was Natasha's first comment upon entering the room.

Phil frowned and looked around. Up above, the bird appeared to be sleeping, though it lifted a wing to peer down at them curiously for a moment. He waved, a bit uncertain as to the policy that should be applied to this sort of situation, but the bird was apparently satisfied with that. It tucked its head back under its wing. Phil was certain it wasn't asleep but it APPEARED to be and that was that.

The dragon was still spread against the sofa base, though rather than propping its head up, its forearms were crossed, providing a natural pillow upon which its head was settled. The long flowing neck was curled out along the floor before coming back to the feet. The tail was draped similarly along the floor with only the tip arced upwards, the never-ending flame prevented from touching the ground. It's wings were folded against the large body, moving gently with its breathing.

Phil knew the rat was with Tony. "Jarvis? Do you know where the monkey is?"

"I am not certain, sir. It disappeared from my scanners."

Disappeared? Phil looked at Natasha. She raised an elegantly curved eyebrow and shrugged. "Explain please, Jarvis."

"The creature was apparently exhausted from keeping near constant watch. Before falling asleep, Master Ash said something to it too quietly for my audios to hear. After Doctor Banner left the room, the creature went to the bag over by the door, Sir, and disappeared in a flash of red light."

"A portal?" Phil was already digging through the bag and its contents. A bunch of mechanical objects fell out, as well as several small red and white balls. Some clothing, a small bell tied with a ribbon, a small, unknown fossilized rock, a second delicate-looking ribbon that had been apparently cut in half vertically, a box that when opened revealed several small badges or trophies of some kind, and a water container similar to ones you would find in a camping store. "Can you elaborate on what he touched, Jarvis?"

"I did not have my scanners on, Agent Coulson. I can show you the video if you'd like."

"Please." Phil and Natasha watched closely as the monkey creature knuckled its way over to the bag. It thrust one paw inside but its body hid whatever it found. Seconds later it was swallowed up in a red light that instantly vanished.

"That looked nothing like Loki's portal," Natasah said, brows furrowed in concentration.

Phil thought the situation over quickly, casting a look back at the bed. "The child will wake up soon," he said slowly, working out his options. He had no idea if they too would be engulfed in a red light and transported somewhere if they messed with technology they didn't know. "Send the video to Stark and Banner, if you would. I think it best we wait for our resident technological geniuses to have a look before we start messing around with things we don't understand." Suffice it to say, since waking up from a coma he'd been put in from being stabbed by a magical scepter, Agent Coulson was more wary these days of handling foreign objects he knew nothing about.

"The video has been sent, Agent Coulson."

Phil took a moment to catalogue the items in the bag on his clipboard, jotting down notes about what questions he wanted more information on. Natasha replaced the items one by one back into the bag as he finished, and snapped the clips shut. "Your thoughts, Natasha?"

She shook her head, red curls bouncing around her ears. "Unknown, Sir. I don't believe the child nor the contents of his backpack to be dangerous, however."

"And the reason for that?"

"He has a DRAGON, Sir." She nodded her head over to where the creature in question was watching them with one slitted eye. "If there were anything in here that was dangerous, or we were not meant to see, I believe the dragon would have tried to stop us." Coulson noted the use of the word 'tried' with a faint hint of amusement. Natasha Romanov was one of the few agents in Shield - who believed her abilities to above what was necessary to take out a creature previously categorized as mythical – that he would readily believe capable of doing so. "Additionally, he could have ordered the dragon to attack those who attacked him first, and all we have reports on are of him running away."

Phil had reached the same conclusion but it was always a good thing to have similar confirmation. "Further speculation will wait until Ash Ketchum awakes, then."

She gave a short nod and took up a guard position by the door.

"That wasn't a portal unless the portal itself is inside that kids backpack," came Tony's voice over the intercom.

Phil sighed and rubbed his temples. "Could you please explain with more detail?"

"The red energy flow you saw had a DIRECTION. It came OUT of the bag and then flowed back into it. It was so quick the naked eye couldn't see it, but Jarvis and I could once we slowed it down and expanded the view enough."

"I could see it," Hawkeye said, sounding petulant.

"Yeah, well, you're a freak," Tony said, sounding cheerful. There was a thud and a crash and Tony was whining in the background about being abused.

"The energy flow was mild," Bruce took over, ignoring the whines. "But it seemed to have absorbed the animal."

"Absorbed?"

"The monkey actually turned into the energy just before it zapped back to the bag," Tony shouted from further away. "And the energy levels spiked like you would not believe when it did."

Bruce sighed. "Anyway, if there's no visible portal, then something in the kids backpack is likely now containing the monkey. Tony and I would both bet money on it."

Phil looked at his clipboard. "Hmmm…."

* * *

Bruce pushed the door open lightly and saw red curls recede from the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see Natasha nodding at him and resuming a stance by the wall – one, he assumed, she'd been holding for quite some time.

Phil was sitting by the bed, scribbling notes on the latest of a stack of forms that had likely come from the stash he kept inside the briefcase he never seemed to be without.

"How's our patient doing?" It was mostly rhetorical – the monitors and displays were all connected to his Starkpad, and well, Jarvis would have been the first to let them know if anything had gone wrong. Since all was quiet, it meant all was well.

"You'd likely know better than I would," Phill said dryly, reemphasizing Bruce's thoughts.

"True." Bruce stepped to the other side of the bed and checked the heart monitor readout just for appearances sake. The boy – Ash, he reminded himself – was still sleeping calmly, now though slightly curled up on his side. The dragon remained on guard, watching with one eye open. A quick scan above showed the bird watching as well, though he thought he detected more curiosity from it than the dragon. He shook himself – it was remarkable, the humanlike behaviours the creatures were capable of displaying. "Everything looks good." He gave a rueful shake of his head. "It's actually kind of amazing that he's able to sleep so soundly in a strange place after being on the run for three months."

"We know nothing of his life," Natasha pointed out quietly. "Perhaps that is his normal lifestyle."

"I've spent a good portion of the last twelve years of my LIFE on the run from one thing or another," Bruce replied. "It still took me some time to adjust to being here – to not jumping every time I hear a strange noise that turns out to be Clint hiding in the vents."

"Or Tony building another AI into the electronic appliances," Phil remarked.

Bruce huffed out a laugh. "I was never so shocked when the espresso machine informed me it had already been programmed with my choice of beverage," he said. "I didn't know if it was because of the newly installed AI, or because it knew I wanted a double shot in my latte."

"I have ceased to see these things as strange and merely see them now a by-product of living with Tony Stark," Natasha said simply.

"I do too," Bruce said. "I just don't know when I started seeing Tony Stark as 'safe'. I certainly thought he was out of his mind the first day I saw him on the Helicarrier and he stabbed me with an electric screwdriver."

"Or perhaps it's the Tower itself that feels safe," Phil suggested. "The Tower defenses, Jarvis notwithstanding, are as secure as any fortified base in the country."

"Begging your pardon Sir," Jarvis interrupted smoothly. "The Tower's defenses are in fact quite higher than even what you have factored in. Particularly if you count the multiple safe rooms that even the Hulk's might cannot penetrate. Most military bases cannot claim that."

"Not for a lack of trying," Bruce said wearily. "Let's change the topic, shall we? I know the Other Guy doesn't usually make an appearance due to depression, but we might find out eventually."

"We're talking about safety," Phil said quietly. "Remind yourself of that, that you are safe here – and that everyone on this team is willing to ensure that."

Bruce couldn't help it – he sent a shy look towards Natasha.

The assassin looked him squarely in the eye. "He said 'everyone', Doctor," she said calmly. "And Agent Coulson does not lie to his assets."

"My god, you are the most depressing bunch of sad sacks I've ever had the misfortune to stumble upon," Tony stated as he made his way into the room. The yellow rat was with him, twisting around his feet and making a firm gallop for the bed. It landed lightly and instantly sniffed the boy as if to make sure nothing had changed in the few hours it had been gone. It even squeaked a question or two to the dragon who huffed a single breath of smoke at it in reply. Seemingly satisfied with that, the rat curled up under the boy's arm.

"What took you so long?" Bruce asked. He had thought the engineer had been right behind him.

"Oh, you know me – too many irons in the fire and all that," came the quick reply.

If Bruce didn't know any better, he would have said that Tony Stark was actually blushing. But Tony Stark did not blush and so that couldn't have been what he thought it was. "Show Coulson some of the results we got."

Tony waved a Starkpad at Coulson and shoved it onto the stack of papers. "We've barely scratched the surface of the tests I'd like to do but the rat did in fact successfully blow up six of the multimeters, plus two that we adjusted for higher voltage." He grinned wildly, and Bruce noted – as did Agent Coulson – the smell of smoke clinging to Tony's clothes, as well as the smudges of charcoal clinging to his neck and fingers. "There's still so much to check – call this a baseline or a starting line or SOMETHING but man was it fun."

"Agreed," said Clint, standing in the doorway. He was similarly covered in charcoal burns and giving off a waft of smoke. "And it turns out the rat has awesome aim. I fired a few arrows and it took them down like nothing!" The archer bounced up and down lightly on his feet with excitement.

"You fired them at the rat?" Coulson set the power of his glare on full and turned it on his asset.

At the look, Hawkeye waved his hands and backtracked a bit. "Nah, Tony set up these flimsy paper targets with one of those volt readers—"

"A multimeter," Tony corrected him.

"—Whatever, and I just shot it from across the room. The rat blew both the arrow and the box to bits." He frowned, as if just remembering something. "Tony, you better replace those."

"Yes, yes, replace, rebuild, whatever." Tony nudged the Starkpad at Coulson again.

"And how safe were these experiments?" Phil said, turning his glare on Tony, ignoring the Starkpad. "Most of your safety equipment in the targeting lab is still being assembled after last week's round of tests—'

"Relax, Agent, no one was hurt," Tony said soothingly. "Well, except for the multimeters. Which reminds me, Jarvis? Order me a couple dozen more. Like fifty. At least. And grab a couple dozen of the high-voltage ones used at electric plants."

"Searching for parts now, Sir."

"Excellent." Tony rubbed his hands together.

"Since Bruce is here to watch the child, I think now would be a good time to get your debriefs done, don't you think?" Phil Coulson's tone in no way presented that as a question. "Natasha, Clint, if you would come with me for a brief spell." Natasha nodded sharply and followed her handler out the door, pausing to grab her partner who was making faces at Tony (who in all fairness had started the game by sticking his tongue out at the Archer but apparently that mattered very little to the Agent of Shield). Phil paused briefly to send one last glare to Tony. "You are next, Mr Stark. I am also expecting that simplified report. It's on top of my briefcase, should you actually follow up on this request."

The three disappeared out the door, and Tony sent one final look after them before retracting his tongue. Bruce ignored that and asked instead, "Where's Steve?"

"Is it after three o'clock?" Tony moved to Coulson's briefcase and was gingerly picking through the papers, looking at them with extreme distaste. "Probably having his pre-dinner dinner. He watched four of the multimeters explode before he decided he was better off being somewhere else."

"Jarvis, could you ask Steve to come down here when he's done?"

Tony looked up, one paper held by his thumb and index finger as though he thought the form was going to bite him – likely a way to denote his distaste. "What's up Bruce?"

Bruce nodded at the bed. "He's waking up again."

Tony followed his gaze and saw a pair of bleary brown-eyes staring back at him. "Well, what do you know," he said quietly, instantly calming himself down. Bruce was pleased to see his reaction – one never knew how Tony would respond in various situations. Bruce didn't want to scare the child within the first five minutes at least. He set the paper down and walked, rather than flung himself, towards the bed. The rat raised his head and reached out a paw that Tony shook immediately. "How are you feeling?"

The boy – Ash, Bruce reminded himself yet again – licked dry, chapped lips, before speaking in a halting voice. "I'm feeling better, thank you."

"Good to hear it," Tony replied, handing the boy a glass of water for him to sip at. "I'm really happy you're awake now, Ash."

Ash looked slightly confused. "Y-you are?"

Tony's grin grew a bit wider as he nodded at the animals surrounding them. "I'm just dying to know where you got all these wonderful pets!"

* * *

**End chapter 2**

* * *

Next chapter will have Ash explaining the Pokémon world (and if you know anime!Ash, it's going to be… interesting?) and also the introduction of a villain I know we've seen somewhere before.

Reviews always appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: **IronPika (3/?)

**Author: **Stormy1x2

**Word Count: ** 16500-ish

**Summary: ** The Avengers meet Ash's Pokemon team, and Tony tries to make sense of certain aspects of the Pokemon world. :) A super-long chapter for you to enjoy because Thor only knows when chapter four is going to be ready. Special thanks to Vuurvlieg once again for being my critic, my storyline checker, and a very enthusiastic cheerleader. You guys owe her for this one. :D

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**Chapter 3**

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Ash had barely been awake ten minutes before Tony was dancing around the room impatiently. Bruce had managed to secure a glass of water for the boy and had let him down it in peace while simultaneously holding Tony back. And by holding him back, he meant physically pushing the engineer to a nearby chair and telling/ordering him to stay there. Tony had responded with whines that he was not a purse-riding, ankle-biting Shih Tzu but had (miraculously) obediently stayed put. For a moment.

Apparently he had mastered the art of teleportation because the instant Bruce lifted his eyes from Tony's person for one final check of the heart monitor, Tony was back at the foot of the bed again, staring at Ash as he had once stared at Bruce, looking for the monster within – except this time, the monsters were sitting all around them. Bruce supposed Tony was looking for the secret to the control of all the boy's pets Tony had fallen in love with. "So now that you're awake and everyone in this room including the sentient animals glaring at me knows that you're going to recover and be one hundred percent fine, how about some official introductions?" Tony waved his hand at the multiple guardians spread around the room. All of them_ seemed_ relaxed but at the same time, they each had a wary eye on the engineer. Bruce didn't blame them.

Ash bit his lip, still a bit nervous-looking. Bruce leaned forward in his chair, trying to look as friendly and at ease as he could. "You should know you're safe here, Ash," he said calmly, firmly. "No one here will hurt you." A small, semi-bitter laugh escaped him, but he managed a wink anyway, earnestly projecting 'harmless' as much as possible. "I know that better than anyone."

Pale fingers twisted around the blue sheets rucked up in the boy's lap. "You said I was safe here, right? Me and my Pokemon?" Ash spoke up hesitantly. His eyes flicked from one person to the next, uncertain, but at the same time, looking so hopeful Bruce was glad he didn't have to disappoint him. For the moment. Bruce was many things but naive was not one of them, and no doubt Phil Coulson would soon be in for an interrogation session of his own. The boy was far too interesting for SHIELD to not take an interest. "I'm...well, used to the outdoors. But I've never stayed for so long in a city alone. It's harder than I ever thought it would be."

"Argh, may the Gods save me from country bumpkins," Tony complained, throwing his hands in the air. He pointed a screwdriver at Ash. "I am going to start to feel offended on behalf of the Big Apple, you know."

Steve snorted from his spot in the corner where he'd taken up residence shortly after Ash's awakening. He had his sketching materials gathered on a small table but he hadn't made use of them yet. "Tony..."

Ash looked confused. "Big Apple?" His tone was questioning.

"New York City," Bruce clarified. "The city you're currently in."

"I know the name," Ash said quietly. He gently moved Pikachu to his lap and stroked the soft-looking fur automatically. The creature 'chaaaa'd' in contentment, arching into the reassuring touch and Ash smiled down at his partner. "I was able to read the newspapers when I could find on on the ground or in the garbage. Pikachu has a better eye than me and always found something fluttering around nearby." He flicked an eye up to Bruce and then back down to the Pokemon snuggling in his arms. "I was usually too busy running, though. This world... seems more dangerous than mine." He shook his head. "I mean, it had its moments but New York reminds me a lot of Dark City."

Bruce nodded understandingly, though he didn't get the reference to the town name that obviously existed in Ash's world. "You are safe here," he reiterated, touching the boy's foot through the blanket very carefully. He was, and he wanted Ash to feel safe. There would be interrogations and questions, but within the physical confines of the Tower, even Bruce could admit to feeling safe. Between Tony acting as a deranged Mama bear (and didn't the engineer just HATE the comparison) and JARVIS monitoring all entries and exits, the Tower had become one of the very few places that Bruce felt he could actually relax in. Just a little. Ash was just a child – one who had been through a very difficult time recently and needed to recover. He deserved to know that he was safe while he did so. "And I think you're very strong to have lasted so long on your own. New York City can be a very dangerous place. But then, you have some very good guardians on your side." He nodded at the sleepy-looking rat curled up on Ash's shoulder.

Ash smiled warmly at the rat and then looked back up at Bruce. "Pikachu and I have been together for a long time. He's my best friend and partner, right Pikachu?"

"Pee-ka!" The yellow rodent nodded firmly at the boy and then shot Bruce a look he could only describe as smug.

"You're very fortunate," Bruce chuckled. Ash grinned and nodded back. "Well, back to the point - I was speaking the truth about being safe here. You haven't had a very good introduction to this world, and I don't blame you for being, well... un-trusting right now."

Ash shrugged, looking down at the bedspread. One hand automatically started to trace the faint, almost invisible patterns in the colors. Apparently when nervous, Ash Ketchum had a problem being still. On that, Tony would relate very well to him.

Bruce continued, confident in what he was about to propose. "So for now, don't trust us."

Ash blinked, raising his head again to stare at Bruce quizzically. Tony started to say something but Bruce raised his hand, stopping the billionaire. Steve smiled and nodded at the boy, trusting Bruce to say the right thing. "Why would you say that?" Ash asked, looking confused.

Bruce gestured at Pikachu, and the dragon. The electric rat twitched an ear, cocking his head at the scientist. "Your creatures – Pokémon, you said? Your Pokémon are quite different from our animals here on earth, but there are still some similarities. One thing I've always believed in was that animals can always sense a person's true intentions. Your Pokémon appear to be even smarter than our non-sentient creatures. Do you trust their judgment?"

"Of course!" The answer was quick, confident, and unhesitating.

Bruce pointed at the rat, and then at the dragon. "Ask them, or the bird, or the monkey Pokémon, if we can be trusted for now." It had paid off back in Central Park, introducing himself and gaining the animal's trust then. It would work again. "They are very intelligent creatures – that much is obvious."

"They sure are. And that's actually a good idea," Ash said, smiling. He looked with fond eyes at the dragon, and then at the rat. He scruffed the rat gently on the side of the head, one thumb massaging the soft, red cheek. A tiny, crackling spark was emitted, electric blue light dancing over Ash's fingers, and Tony chortled gleefully until Bruce put a hand over his friends mouth. Ash grinned at the action and a few more walls seemed to fall down between them. "Pikachu's usually been able to tell the good from the bad for me before. And Charizard never trusts anyone more than he has to." He stroked the back of the rat perched on his stomach. "How about it, Pikachu? Should we bring everyone out for introductions?"

Pikachu nodded eagerly, throwing its tiny hands in the air with an exclamation that sounded to Bruce like pure joy. It scrabbled to the top of Ash's head, waving its tail back and forth like a lightning-shaped flag before dropping down to his other shoulder, nuzzling the boy's cheek once more for good measure. Bruce would take that as a positive. Ash grinned and turned to look at Charizard again. "What do you say? Can we trust them?" Charizard rolled his eyes, let out a puff of smoke, and then put its head down, pretending to go to sleep. Ash laughed at out loud this time. "Guess that's a yes.'

"Shouldn't we wait for Clint and Natasha?" Steve said. "We should introduce everyone at the same time, and they'll be back from their first debrief in a few minutes."

"Not my fault the super-spies are late," Tony said.

Ash nodded eagerly. "Well, we can start with these guys, since you've already met them." Ash pointed at the dragon. "Like I said, this is Charizard. Charizard is one of my oldest friends - next to Pikachu, that is."

"So his name is Charizard," Bruce repeated, rolling the syllables over his tongue. It was an odd word, an odd name. Part of him started automatically breaking it into syllables, breaking down the etymology – 'zard' obviously came from lizard, 'char' could be a reference to fire; hence, it was a 'fire lizard', which made obvious sense due to the fact that its tail had a burning ball of flames at the tip. His brain continued along that line of thinking, possible permutations, and he let the thought drift off to the back of his head to think over in detail later. "He's a beautiful animal," was what he said out loud. Indeed he was. Now that the boy was awake and coherent, Bruce felt free to finally study the animal up close and not via scans and electronic images. He took a step closer and crouched down slowly, carefully examining the animal, letting his eyes travel over the fluidly moving muscles as it breathed in and out, completely at ease with a stranger staring at him.

"He won't bite you," Ash said, smiling at his tentative approach. "Not without a command from me." His wrinkled up. "Well... most of the time."

The dragon snorted.

"He's beautiful," Bruce said again, following the curve of the shoulder muscle with his eyes to where it met the beautiful but powerful-looking wings. "Absolutely stunning."

He truly was. The dragon – Charizard – was covered in gorgeously bright orange scales that emitted a strong warmth, even to Bruce sitting several feet away. His claws were as sharp as they'd first noticed, but they were scrupulously clean. Blue-green eyes stared back at Bruce, calm but assessing; unafraid as he had been seen from the moment of arrival in the room , and Bruce felt a faint stirring in the back of his head as the Hulk sensed another force of nature near to him. It was an instinctive response; a quiet but powerful curiosity. It only needed even the illusion of a threat to bring about a change that had once helped to devastate Harlem but Bruce knew how to rein in – at least for now - the sleeping giant within. He inhaled calmly, closing his eyes, projecting calm, and the Hulk settled back down. To his surprise, the dragon seemed to be smirking at him, like he knew exactly what Bruce had just done and why.

"How do you become friends with a dragon?" Steve asked. He had taken the small sketchbook from the table and rested it on his knee as he looked up and then back down at the paper. He was absently blocking in shapes that Bruce had no doubt would resemble Charizard in perfect detail by the time he was done.

Ash frowned. "Well, for one thing, Charizard isn't a dragon. It's a fire and flying type."

Tony scoffed. "What do you mean he's not a dragon? Of COURSE he's a dragon, look at him!" He pointed out the wings, the general shape and finally just flapped his hands at the creature. "I know my dragons. I've read the fairy tales, and that is definitely a dragon-esque shape!"

Ash blinked at the man. "Well, he's not."

Charizard snorted again, keeping his eyes closed. It sounded amazingly derisive.

Bruce raised a hand at that. "Type?" he asked, focusing in on that odd word.

"Umm, yeah." Ash bit his lip again, looking a bit lost. "Wow, this is gonna be harder than I thought. You don't even know the basics about Pokémon that every little kid knows."

"Even little kids have to start somewhere," Bruce said with a shrug. "Just keep things simple for now and we can fill in details later. To start, apparently you have different types of Pokémon. Does that mean different breeds?"

"Breeds?"

Tony stepped in for a second. "Do all Charizards have orange scales? Are there some with red? Blue? Are there Charizards that can't fly? Some that are bigger or smaller than yours?"

Ash looked completely confused. "All Charizards look like my Charizard," he said slowly, like he didn't understand what they were asking. Or maybe he thought they were particularly slow. Bruce wouldn't be surprised. "Unless they're shiny, but those are really rare. And some are bigger but they're older and stronger. My Charizard has grown a lot from training in the Chariciffic Valley."

Bruce ignored the strange name and what 'shiny' was supposed to mean, and focused on what Ash was saying about species diversity - in that there apparently wasn't much. "So there are no other kinds of Charizards?"

Ash looked at him like he should be expected to know that. "Of course not."

"So there are no breeds of Charizard. No other dragons."

Ash laughed and shook his head, and even Pikachu was giggling with amusement. "There are lots of dragon types!"

There was that word again. Bruce looked at Tony.

Tony nodded. "Jarvis, lower the screen." A large flat-screen detached from the ceiling and lowered on robotic arms. "Bring up a pic of your basic American mutt."

A moment later, a plain brown dog of average height, short floppy ears and a thin tail was captured on-screen. Bruce pointed. "This animal is called a dog. But there are hundreds of different breeds that fall under the category of dog. German shepherds, Border Collies, Pekingese, Shih Tzu's, Labradors, Huskies, Dalmations, Maltese, Rottweilers, Great Danes—" As he spoke, the picture became smaller and shifted to the upper right-hand corner. Slightly smaller boxes began to appear on the screen with each breed he mentioned, showing the different sizes, shapes, even colors the dogs came in. "The same thing goes for other basic animals here on earth. Cats, monkeys, horses – every animal has multiple sub-categories for different breeds."

"I understand... I think." Ash wrinkled his nose. "It's kinda the same but not. Ummm..." he looked around and spotted his backpack on the floor by the door. "Can you hand me my bag please? I need my Pokedex."

Footsteps sounded just outside in the hall. "Sure thing, kid." Clint picked up the bag smoothly as he moved inside the room, Natasha right behind him. The archer smiled at the boy and set the bag on the side of the bed, careful to avoid stepping on the dragon's tail. Or the not-dragon. Bruce wasn't sure at this point. "So we're having a lesson on biology?"

"So you were lurking in the hallways spying again?" Tony snarked, but he did it with a smile.

"I'm a spy, it's what I do," Clint shot back unapologetically.

Tony saluted him with a finger. "Touché." Clint knocked him lightly with a hip as he settled in next to the engineer for what apparently was to be story hour. Natasha settled in by the door, closer to Steve. Her gaze flicked from the group at the boy's bedside, and down at Steve's sketchbook. The blocky shapes were slowly being filled with detail – Steve was roughing out the curve of the folded wings, cross-hatching shadows in the wing membranes. A few tiny, lightly-sketched diamond shapes on the joints started to resemble scales as he added more and more of them, shading gently beneath each to give the illusion of overlapping and depth.

Ash rummaged through his backpack until he pulled out what Tony would have sworn was one of those first generation Game Gear-Boy things. It was thick and red, with buttons on one side, and a glass screen,_ about half the size of a normal tablet_, Bruce surmised. The teen flipped it open, sending the front casing to rest snuggly against the back. He then said, "Charmander," and a timer appeared on the screen as it searched. A moment later, it beeped, and he looked up. "Um... anyway we can get this on the big TV? It'd be easier to show you all."

"What is it?" Tony asked, giving it a suspicious look. He did not look overly impressed.

Then again, Tony tended to be not impressed with technology that hadn't been designed by him or Stark Industries anyway. V_oice recognition_, Bruce realized, returning to his focus to the device. Not too different from what they had after all. "Jarvis?"

A response sounded overhead. "Scanning image." A second later, the picture reappeared on the lowered screen.

Tony frowned. "That's it?

"For now, Sir." Jarvis sounded odd. "The electronic device seems compatible with my systems and yet not. I am hesitant to link systems to fully download the data until I am sure the home network is safe from corruption. Sir?"

"J-man?"

"If I had to hazard a guess, I would assume the device is of future origin. The similarities suggest upgrades that would be feasible in a few years in our own technological world."

Tony looked aghast. "But it's so ugly!" he protested. Bruce rolled his eyes.

"Tony!" Steve admonished sharply, jabbing a pencil in his direction. "You don't need to be rude."

Tony was about to begin a tirade that would no doubt end all tirades. Thankfully Clint intervened. "No, I see what he means," Clint broke in, nodding at the device in Ash's hands. Tony Stark's own design – the Starkphone 3.5 – looked and acted more like a miniature laptop than a phone, with four times the power and double the storage capability. The design was so simplistic and stripped down of icons and outer components that it more or less resembled a rectangular slab of highly reflective glass upon first glance. Bruce knew that Clint was in lust with his, almost as much as he was his bow. "Look – that thing's big and clunky. Compare it to Stark's phone that he controls freaking satellites with." Tony held up the slim, sleek phone. It was smaller than the device Ash was holding. "That thing the kid's got may be new tech for us, but it looks ancient."

"That's what I said," Tony scowled. "It's ugly."

"Tony!" Steve sounded appalled.

"Whatever. Scan it when you're sure your sensibilities won't be offended, Jarvis." Tony folded his arms, looking put out. Clint made an attempt at pacification by leaning his body weight against Tony. Tony grunted and pushed back as a response but his eyes remained locked on the Pokedex. Bruce was certain Tony was already redesigning the gadget in his head. He'd have to remind the engineer not to steal the teen's device without asking.

"Of course, Sir."

Ash had been watching the byplay, looking slightly offended at the 'ugly' comment until he saw Tony pull out his personal phone to show the difference. "That's a phone?" he asked, awed. The glint of the fluorescent lights caught the shiny edges of Tony's phone and beamed brightly at the boy, no matter which way the billionaire turned it.

Tony snorted and tossed the phone at Ash for him to have a look. The boy picked it up eagerly, blunt fingers poking and prodding with none of the deft expertise that Tony and even Bruce himself found themselves using. _Ash may be many things, _Bruce reflected, _but he does not appear to be a scientist_. "I'll hook you up with one later. Now, explain the dragon – and why he's rinky-dink sized in that picture." He squinted at the image. "Is that what he looked like as a baby? Cute, I'll give you, but I much prefer the adult, kick-ass version."

"He's not a dragon," Ash repeated. Almost regretfully, he returned the phone to Tony and picked up his machine. He pointed at the TV screen. "That's his pre-evolved form, Charmander. There are two evolution stages for Charmander. Charmeleon—" Jarvis scanned the second picture and placed it side-by-side with Charmander. "—and Charizard." The third picture went below it. "Charizard is the final stage."

"His final form?" Clint mock-gasped.

"It's over 9,000!" Tony breathed reverently.

"Shut up, you idiots. No one gets that reference but you two." Bruce rolled his eyes and folded his arms, focusing on the images. "So what would be an example of a dragon type?"

"You seemed to get it," Clint pouted, but he was largely ignored.

"Umm… lemme see…. Oh! Salamence." Ash tapped a few buttons and held it out.

Jarvis took the image and re-posted it instantly. A blue and red dragon with sharp-looking wings and breathing fire appeared. It had a lighter blue underbelly, and the statistics Bruce could see printed next to it showed that proportion-wise, it was slightly bigger than Charizard. Though Charizard seemed to be bipedal and this dragon – Salamence – was rather firmly planted on all four, thickly-muscled feet, much like that of a rhinoceros or an elephant. He glanced at the large, relaxed looking dragon on the floor and a soft whistle escaped him at the idea.

"Now THAT's a dragon," Tony declared, rubbing his hands together. He flicked at the image and separated it into it's own 3D one, poking the tail and sending it spinning so he could see all the sides. "I want one. Do you have one? How much would you sell it for?"

"I don't have a Salamence, but even if I did, I wouldn't sell him to you," Ash said, looking shocked at the very idea. "Pokémon aren't for sale. If you want one, you have to catch one and become its friend. Well, in this case—" he tapped the device. A small blue lizard wearing a grey, bone-like structure on its head appeared. Compared to the previous images, it seemed rather small and well... _cuddly._ "You'd have an easier time catching a Bagon, it's pre-evolved form."

"We need one," Clint said, nodding his head. "I am one hundred percent behind Tony on this."

"I'll be its friend," Tony grinned. "It can have all the imported dragon chow I can find, in exchange for breathing fire over the toupees of the boring old men at my next party."

"I'm in!" Clint repeated again. "If I can ride it like a pony and shoot flaming arrows off it."

"There's a surprise," Natasha muttered, finally entering the conversation. Her eyes though, were glued on the image of the Salamence with a surprising amount of interest. She had an expression on her face that Bruce would tentatively label 'amused'. "You'd forget to feed it and walk it though, and the Coulson would be stuck with it."

"We are getting way off-track here," Bruce interrupted. "Let's just stick with the – what did you call them?"

Ash blinked tiredly. "Pokémon."

"Right. Let's just stick with the Pokémon you have here right now, since they're the only ones we'll be dealing with first hand." He smiled. "We've been interacting with them a little bit, but since you've woken up, they've been like entirely new animals."

Ash nodded. He leaned back and looked up at the large avian perched on the rafters, smiling warmly at her. She chirped back in response. "This is StarRaptor. She's a second-stage evolution as well." The relevant pictures obediently popped up on his machine and Jarvis scanned them on to the screen. "I caught her as a Starly. She first evolved into Staravia and then finally to StarRaptor."

Bruce reflected that they were going to have to have a detailed discussion on the word evolution at some point. The biologist in him was cringing. Ash seemed to apply 'evolution' in ways that it did not mean for their own world. At the same time, technically, the bird should be – based on Ash's own words – a third stage evolution. He wondered again at the terminology, curious if it was Ash using it incorrectly – he was after all, just a child – or if the world from which he came simply had developed different definitions for the terms.

Meanwhile, the large bird called out a greeting and pushed herself off the interlocked crossbeams that met over Ash's bed. She did a couple of slow-soaring loops around the room, flapping her wings only twice before landing lightly on Ash's bed by his arm. Ash reached out and stroked her glossy feathers, pressing lightly. The bird was cooing and nuzzling the side of his head like she was soothing her own chick. The large ruffles on her head dipped forward, and one large feather came free to float gently to the floor. "She needs grooming," Ash admitted ruefully, eying the feather. "All my pokemon do." He looked down. "Brock would be ashamed of me – I haven't been taking very good care of them."

StarRaptor squawked at him and pushed her beak against Ash's head again, apparently unhappy with her trainer's words. Pikachu shook its tiny head and repeated its name several times, poking Ash in the chest until the boy laughed, murmured something, and hugged the mouse to him. Bruce picked the feather up and turned it over in his hands. He'd been wanting to view those feathers up close for a while now. Soft and smooth, the rich brown with a white fringe in the middle seemed to almost glow with health. He looked up from the feather to the creature itself and saw Ash, once again somewhat composed, watching him with an encouraging smile.

"May I?" Bruce asked. At Ash's enthusiastic nod, Bruce moved forward, adjusting his glasses, and then placed one hand gently on the bird's neck. He could feel the energy surging through the muscle clearly defined under his palm. The animal's pulse was faster than his own, but the animal itself was calm. The tiny feathers around her eyes were exquisitely detailed up close, and the eyes themselves were clear, bright and extremely curious. "She's beautiful."

"I know," Ash said, grinning as StarRaptor preened and plucked at his hair in a teasing manner. Bruce chuckled as she pulled a loose strand free and dropped it on the floor. "How'd you know StarRaptor's a girl?"

"She's treating you like a fledgling," Clint piped up, watching with longing. He so very badly wanted to join in. Only the presence of Natasha seemed to be holding him back. "Mother-hen tactics. We see them being used by Pepper on Tony. Often."

"I am not a child," Tony announced loudly. He winked at Clint and then at Ash, folding his arms and looking smug. "I have the documentation and YouTube videos that prove it."

"Could have fooled us," Steve said with a smile and a shrug. "Who's Brock?"

"He's one of my best friends," Ash replied. He snuck a look over at his photo album again. "He's traveled with me to almost every region I've visited. He wants to be a Pokemon Breeder, and take care of every kind of Pokemon there is." Ash smiled and Pikachu chirped again. "He's like a big brother." The smile disappeared, replaced with a woeful look. "He and Dawn must be so worried about me."

There wasn't much to say to that, Bruce understood. All the platitudes in the world were useless in that they couldn't help the team construct a working portal to get the young man back to his home dimension any time soon. And if he'd been gone from his friends side for the same length of time he'd been here – and wasn't that an interesting side tangent, differing passages of time depending on which side of the portal you stood, he'd have to speak to Tony about that - then his friends and family might have very well written him off as dead by now. At the very least a cold case – wasn't that what those were called? Bruce recalled vaguely a general rule of thumb for missing people – their odds of finding them, a safe retrieval, or a rescue diminished more and more with every passing HOUR, much less each day. Trails went cold fast, and Ash had been in New York for just over three months now. Bruce wondered absently if Ash's home police force had the equivalent of an Amber Alert set up for such disappearances.

"Would you show us another one, Ash?" Steve changed the subject gently back to what they'd been originally doing.

Ash nodded. "You guys have met Infernape so I'll bring him out." Ash thumbed the button on on_e _of the pokeballs. It increased in size_—"Okay, I want tech specs on that, J"_—and then that familiar red light shot out, a shape of light forming inside it and coalescing into the familiar stance of the fire monkey. Bruce blinked. That was the light they'd seen on the video Jarvis had captured - the directional energy that had appeared and disappeared within a second. It came from the red and white balls Ash had in his backpack.

"Infernape!" The monkey growled and stretched, leaping into the air and back flipping neatly to Ash's side by the bed without a single sign of exertion on its part.

"Agile, ain't he?" Clint said, wide-eyed with fascination. The monkey hadn't shown nearly that level of agility the last few times they'd seen it. It had mostly perched sullenly on the chair by Ash's bed, glaring at everyone who dared to go near it and screeching at the poor nurse who had eventually refused to enter unless Doctor Banner was present.

Bruce saw Tony moving his eyes from the monkey to the ball. "Guess that explains the little light show from earlier, hmm?"

Tony nodded slowly, his mind obviously working through details. "Some sort of matter converter? Transporter?" His eyes clouded over as he worked through possible ideas in his head, the tip of his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. "Converting creatures to raw matter and storing them in portable containers... that would require..."

He was gone, mumbling theories and mathematical formulas. Bruce couldn't deny he wanted to join Tony – to ask Ash for permission to dissect one of the small red balls he'd brought (at least, as long as there were no creatures in it) and see how it worked. The idea of converting things – anything really – to matter, being able to convey it in such tiny machines and then returning it with no ill side-affects that they could see... the possibilities were astounding. Shipments of colossal sizes – the automotive industry, mineral resources, forestry, fishing – anything that cost an arm and a leg to ship, being reduced to the weight of light and transported in small containers easily managed by one person... On one hand, it would revolutionize every industry the world over. On the other hand, Bruce thought ruefully, it would also eliminate millions of jobs – entire sectors would be gone, designated as useless thanks to the technology he was looking at right that moment. Bruce shivered. He'd probably have to remind Tony not to be so eager to open Pandora's box. But a little scientific curiosity wasn't too bad...

Infernape huffed out a fiery breath in Tony's direction, glaring sullenly. He seemed to understand what Tony was thinking, and he didn't appear to be thrilled about it. Bruce shook himself and put the matter aside along with all the other mental notes he'd been making. They could discuss it later, after the introductions were over. There would be many, MANY things to discuss.

Ash put a gentle hand on Infernape's shoulder as he officially introduced him to the group. It acknowledged all of them but when it came to Bruce, Infernape blinked – and then held out its hand, looking steadily at him. Bruce's eyes widened and he shook its hand gingerly; then with more enthusiasm as the monkey gave him a brief nod and a very small smile. Ash smiled too. "Infernape likes you, Bruce."

"We got to know each other a bit while you were healing up," Bruce said, marveling at the warm heat drifting out from the flames on the monkey's head. By all rights, he should have been getting a second degree burn from close exposure to the fire blazing out but the reality felt like nothing more than a lamp aimed at one spot. "He seemed quite interested in the details of your recuperation." The fur covering its hand was thin but soft, feeling like soft leather on the palm and fingers and Bruce took in as much detail as he could. Lean but definitely strong – the muscles weren't overly developed but he could remember the easy way it had leaped through the tree branches back at the park. The eyes were focused but showed high intelligence in the way it kept scanning the room and its occupants, as though wary of some sort of threat. "Infernape, was it? Infernape is very protective of you."

"We've been through a lot together," Ash said quietly. Infernape turned to look at its master and leaned against the bed, watching him closely. Ash reached out to touch its shoulder, stroking lightly. The monkey growled softly, pushing against him lightly. "We became partners after its first trainer abandoned it, back when it was a Chimchar."

When the image appeared on Ash's device, Jarvis helpfully added it to the screen above. Bruce studied the tiny brown monkey with the large, cheeky grin and enormous eyes. The fire on its tail was tiny compared to that of Charizards, and there was only a tiny puff of swirled hair on its head in the shape of a flame, not the fiery mane it currently sported.

"Abandoned?" Steve cocked his head, catching that one word, and Bruce turned his gaze back to Ash who suddenly didn't look very happy.

Ash nodded, looking down at the blanket he was twisting between his hands. "Trainers put a lot of emphasis on strength. We all want our Pokémon to get stronger. A good trainer works to develop the natural potential of their Pokémon." His fists tightened on the blanket. "But some trainers want instant results. If a Pokémon doesn't perform a certain way, they think it's a simple matter of releasing it to the wild and finding another one that will be better." Ash's voice sounded a little choked up – sad but angry too. "They forget and ignore the bond the Pokémon developed with them, but they don't seem to realize the Pokémon can't break the bond as easily as we can."

Infernape growled and then nudged Ash's arm with its head. Ash wrapped his arm around Infernape automatically, giving the monkey a strong hug. "Fer! Fernape!" The monkey butted its forehead against Ash's and then gave him a cheeky smile.

Ash smiled back. "You're right, Infernape. As easily as OTHERS can. I can't break the bond with any of my Pokémon."

"Why would you want to?" Bruce asked rhetorically. The thought of giving up any one of these incredible animals was beyond comprehension. He could happily spend countless hours studying these creatures with just his eyes alone. "These creatures are amazing!"

StarRaptor chirped and then flew into the air, circling once and then coming to rest on the ground by Natasha. The Russian woman looked down at the bird, a faint air of puzzlement surrounding her. "What does it want?"

"She wants you to pet her," Ash told her. "I think she's acknowledging you as the only other girl in the room!"

Natasha blinked, and then gave StarRaptor a tiny look of amusement. "I see." She held out a hand for the bird to nudge with her large beak, apparently unafraid of losing it. Then she slid her hand over the large ruff, following the contours of the feathers with her fingers. Her smile grew bigger as she looked up at both Bruce and Ash. "I concur, Doctor. She is indeed beautiful."

"Girl?" Bruce adjusted his glasses again. "I've heard you refer to your Pokémon as 'it'. In fact, we've all been switching between 'it' and gender-designated pronouns. Why is she considered a female?"

"Ummm..." Ash scratched his head, looking confused. "Because she's not a boy?"

Clint guffawed. So did the dragon.

"What is Pikachu?" Bruce persisted, ignoring Clint.

"Pikachu's a boy." The animal in question chirped, waving its tail back and forth. "We get in the habit of referring to Pokémon as 'it' because sometimes there's no way of telling at first." Ash pointed at Pikachu's tail. "It's got a flat edge, see? A female Pikachu has a notch in the tail."

"I guess you just can't give it a look between the legs," Tony said bluntly, still manipulating the 3D screens he'd been setting up for Ash's Pokemon, as well as a blown up image of the pokeball. Formulas and numbers were flying all over the room, jumping from screen to screen as Tony worked his technological 'magic' as Clint sometimes referred to it. Bruce knew that the data streams were recording, dissecting, hypothesizing and saving anything and everything happening in the room for Tony to go over with a fine-toothed comb – and a sonic screwdriver - later. Tony just could not 'not understand' something. Tony continued, one eyebrow archly raised. "We had an absolutely FASCINATING discussion about the lack of genitalia and the need for litter boxes."

Clint snickered again.

Ash blushed. "Umm... that's not really how we tell," he said sheepishly. His cheeks were bright red. Bruce marveled at the idea of there being such a thing as an innocent teenage boy, as Ash seemed to be. The aura of virginity – both in body AND mind – seemed to radiate from Ash like a beacon. "There are some differences between boys and girls that are noticeable, and some that aren't. Like, um..." He jabbed away at the buttons on his pokedex. "Like here – this is a male Combee." Three yellow blocks with happy faces appeared on the screen. Jarvis switched it to the main monitor. "The female has a red mark on her." The second picture was positioned next to the first. "Only female Combee's can evolve into Vespiquin." A third picture loaded, showing a large yellow and black-striped bee-type humanoid creature with large white wings. This version had two arms, and only one face as opposed to the three-headed Combee. Her lower abdomen resembled a blocked-in dress. "And there are some Pokémon that are only boys or only girls. Like Chancey." The screen switched again and showed a pink oval with darker pink wingtips, tiny dotted eyes, and stubby little arms and feet. A small crescent pouch decorated its abdomen and contained a white oval that Bruce was pretty sure was an egg, or something of the sort. "All Chancey's are girls."

"So that makes them all lesbians? Cool." Tony wiggled his eyebrows. "That sounds like a party."

"Tony, please," Steve pleaded. His ears were red. His fingers reached for an eraser – Tony's outlandish comments had caused him to draw a line through the horn-like projections on Charizard's head.

"No, seriously – if they're all girls, how do you get more of them? Are they hermaphrodites?" Tony looked fascinated, studying the monitors intently as though they were about to provide him with the answer right then and there. The image of Chancey rotated in front of him. "That egg-thing there in the middle. Are they born pregnant like Godzilla? You know, that horrible movie with Matt Broderick and the sexy blonde?"

Clint grinned. "I love that movie."

Tony shot him a look. "No one loves that movie. You have horrible taste in movies."

"I did, and I do not!" Clint waved an arrow. "Can you imagine riding one of those baby Godzilla's like a horse? Gimme that over a horse any day!" He blinked. "Or a Salamence. Either one, I'm good."

Tony looked thoughtful. "You have a point."

"You both do. And it's on the tops of both your heads," Natasha cut them off.

"Huh?" Ash looked truly confused, eyes switching back and forth during the by-play..

Bruce calmly slapped a hand over Tony's mouth before he could fire off another retort. Natasha quelled Clint with a look. The conversation picked up again. "Before they got sidetracked, Tony was talking about reproduction. How do they reproduce if they're females?"

Ash's face cleared. "Oh. That's easy. Pokémon come from Pokémon eggs."

"...and where do the eggs come from?" Clint asked, since Tony couldn't. Bruce still hadn't moved his hand.

That produced another head scratch. "Umm... you need a boy Pokémon and a girl Pokémon. They make eggs." Ash was now giving them a look as if THEY were the crazy ones.

Clint grinned and moved in for the strike. "But HOW—"

"Moving on," Bruce cut Clint off. The archer could keep this up all day. Tony poked the hand against his mouth and grunted expectantly. Bruce sighed and removed his hand. "Behave, Tony." At least the engineer could be trusted to EVENTUALLY get back to scientific curiosity and proper questioning.

...Sometimes.

"Fine," Tony groused. "So, if there are no boy Chancy's – that is a stupid name, by the way, just sayin' – how the hell do you get a Chancy egg? Immaculate 'PokeCeption'?"

Even Natasha cracked a small smile at that but the joke flew right over Ash's head. "Some people use a Ditto," Ash replied honestly. "My friend Brock is going to be the best Breeder ever and he says a Ditto is the best help to get eggs from Pokémon who don't have a partner." A pink blob with eyes appeared on the screen. "Ditto can change themselves into any Pokémon, and they aren't boys or girls."

"...You must have very interesting gender studies programs in your world," Bruce mused thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes at the picture. "Could they be considered hermaphrodites? Do they have the reproductive organs of both males and females? Has one ever been studied in detail?"

"Professer Oak studies Pokemon," the boy said cheerfully. "He knows almost everything about them." Black brows furrowed in confusion. "I don't know what Pokemon a Hermaphro-thing is though."

Steve's shoulders were shaking. His face was carefully hidden behind his sketchbook. Bruce fought back the urge to laugh.

"It's not a Pokemon-"

"What about this?" Tony interrupted them, poking the pocket on the 3D image of the Chancey. "Is that a Pokemon egg?"

Ash shook his head. "It's an egg but not a Pokemon egg. I mean, it's used in an attack called 'Egg Bomb', but it doesn't hatch."

Tony was already bored. "Fine, let's file this under the Virgin Pokemon and move on. I want to get to the ones you have that we haven't seen yet." Tony rubbed his hands together. "I see three more of those pokeball-things there."

Ash looked confused but he shrugged and went along with it. He picked up another one of the tiny red and white balls. "Okay. Come on out, Buizel!" Ash pressed the button, the ball expanded, and as he threw it into the air, that familiar red light began to shine from it. Tony moaned at Jarvis but everyone else ignored him. When the light disappeared, a small, yellow and orange, bipedal creature stood upright in its place, cocking its head to one side as it took in all the unfamiliar faces.

"Bui?"

"Buizel! I want you to meet some new friends of ours," Ash said, gesturing to the Avengers with his undamaged arm. Tony grinned madly, opening a new floating window in the room. The hum of Jarvis's scanners could be heard as Clint and Bruce both leaned for a better look, Bruce adjusting his glasses automatically. Steve switched to a new sheet in his sketchbook. But Buizel immediately hopped onto the bed, climbed closer and began to sniff at Ash's arm, completely ignoring the people trying to get a closer look at it. He tapped a paw lightly on the bright white linen binding the wound.

"Bui….Bui bui…" Buizel focused was only on Ash's forearm, and he finally turned a dark look up at his trainer. "Bui?" It turned and glared at the Avengers, one by one, tiny paws clenched into what amounted to fists for it. Bruce noted the tiny but sharp-looking fang poking out at the corner of its mouth.

The dragon snorted in apparent amusement though, and StarRaptor cooed soothingly. Both of them were relaxed, and that obviously enough for the weasel as it sniffed back at the dragon and then turned to face the rest of them. Its small arms folded over its chest and he stared them down, completely unafraid. Bruce was enchanted. So small and yet so willing to protect its master. _Trainer_, he revised mentally. _Protect its trainer. _

"Buizel, these guys helped save me," Ash explained. He looked up at Bruce and the others. "He's a water type, though he can do normal and ice type-attacks as well."

Bruce leaned forward and extended his hand. "It's nice to meet you Buizel," he said calmly, hoping this introduction would go as easily as the others had. Buizel took in his whole appearance, but having Charizard and StarRaptor vouch for you apparently went a long way. Buizel reluctantly held out its paw and shook hands. "He looks amazing too, Ash." The weasel smirked and resumed his stance, keeping a watchful eye on them all.

"He's much bigger than your average weasel though," Tony said. He had his sensors going a thousand miles a second and a picture of a normal Earth weasel was in the corner of one of the windows near Ash. "He's got the basic shape but that's where it ends." He grinned. "Same attitude, though."

"They've all got much more vibrant coloring than most of our planet's animals," Bruce agreed. The fur was a brilliant orange-y brown and was smooth as silk – _likely water-repellant_, Bruce thought, taking in the sheen. _Like ducks or otters_. It's eyes sparkled with health and good humor – yet wary and watchful at the same time. Bruce gently stroked a finger along the thick yellow collar framing Buizel's head and neck. The weasel preened at the touch. "What does this—"

He jerked his finger back as Buizel's collar suddenly inflated like a balloon and Buizel stood there proudly. Ash chuckled. "Buizel likes being in the spotlight," he said with a grin. "His collar inflates if he's in trouble underwater, or he needs to help lift someone or something to the surface."

"Like a life jacket," Bruce said. But inflated with what? Oxygen from its own body? The weasel didn't seem out of breath – the collar had inflated with no discernible effort from the animal itself. A conscious but unconscious reaction. Or maybe it got it from the air – but there were no gills or openings. Did it absorb air through the very cells of the skin? Was it able to redirect air from its respiratory system into the collar instead of its lungs with a single thought? There were just so many questions. No doubt Tony was racking up the same amount. "I get it. Fascinating!"

"You said he was a water type?" Natasha asked, cutting into his reverie.

Ash nodded. "He knows attacks like Aqua-Jet and Surf, which are both powerful water attacks. But he also knows Ice Punch and Sonic Boom – that's a normal-type attack." Buizel's ears twitched and he turned part-way around to view his trainer, eyes lit up. His paw was raised and there seemed to be a faint glow coming from it. Bruce blinked in surprise as he felt an icy cool breeze in a room that was completely climate-controlled. "No, Buizel, you can't show them here." Buizel's ears drooped and he deflated his collar. The glow disappeared from its fist. The breeze faded away. Ash pat its shoulder soothingly. "You can show them later, I promise."

Buizel nodded, calm and accepting. "Bui."

"You have excellent control over them," Natasha said approvingly.

Ash looked at her, that confused expression back on his face. "I don't control them," he said. Then he wrinkled his nose. "Well, okay in battle I do. I mean, I control what attacks they use. But they're my friends. We work together as a team. We're a family." He smiled lightly at the assassin. "Like you guys, I guess."

Steve smiled back at the boy. "I can definitely understand that way of thinking," he said. "We're a team, just as you are. And as much as others would like otherwise, I don't control my team. As you said, it's about working together."

Clint mimed wiping away a tear in between saving and changing scans. "Cap, you're gonna make me blush."

Bruce wondered about the word 'attacks'. It wasn't the first time Ash had mentioned them, and they'd already seen firsthand what just the dragon alone was capable of dishing out. That was yet another question they were going to have to press upon the boy. If they didn't, Phil Coulson certainly would, and there were more eyes than just the Avengers that had watched what happened in New York City. He frowned. His enthusiasm was being dampened somewhat, by the knowledge that this child and his creatures would be seen as weapons by far more dangerous people.

Bruce looked at Ash who was watching his Pokemon with such a soft and loving look, and he resolutely put that line of thought out of his head for the moment. He'd bring it up with Natasha and Phil himself, and bring Steve in if necessary. He didn't want to see the child used before he'd even adjusted to all of them. He didn't doubt that Phil would use his influence to protect him – Bruce had come to rely greatly on Phil and trusted him more than he did any other agency official – but Phil didn't rule at the top of the hill.

On the bed, Pikachu tapped Buizel's shoulder and the two of them conversed in a flurry of 'Bui's' and 'Pika's'. Bruce looked over and saw Tony focused on them, and no doubt, several of his scanners and cameras as well. He was recording again – sounds, facial expressions, hand gestures, everything. No doubt Tony would have a reasonable facsimile of a translation before too long.

"Sooo…" Clint said, looking eagerly at the young trainer and the two pokeballs still sitting beside him. "Who's next?"

"We'll need a bit of room for this next one," Ash said, fingers trailing gently over the glossy red and white ball. He stopped just short of pressing the button. "Torterra's the biggest, bulk-wise, of all my Pokémon." He looked over to the corner where Steve was sitting. "You're Steve, right?" Cap nodded. "If you move a few feet to the right, there'll be enough room for Torterra to stand comfortably."

Steve set his sketchbook down and then moved his chair with his supplies to the desired spot. He then looked at the large space left behind. "Whoa…" he said, a small frown creasing the lines of his face. "Are you sure it's big enough? If it needs that much room…"

Bruce flicked his eyes to Natasha and saw her casually check her stun gun wrist guards – also known as her Widow's Bite. Ash had no way of knowing that the small golden bands that linked together and resembled a rather expensive bracelet actually housed up to ten thousand volts each and combined, could be fired like a taser with enough power to stop a rhino in its tracks. Clint had a hand near the arrow discharger on his techno-quiver which housed everything from gas-heads to bombs as well as a variety of trick arrows provided by Tony that the archer was still testing. But if Ash didn't recognize the danger, his pets certainly did.

The effect their movements had on the Pokémon was immediate. StarRaptor flew upwards to land on the crossbeams, her wings spread. She let out a shrill shriek, like that of a hawk's hunting cry. She was followed by Infernape who had effortlessly flipped up into the air and now gripped one of the overhead posts with his left hand and his tail. In its other hand, a red glow started to form. Both of them glared down, tense and battle-ready. Charizard simply sat upright and leaned against Ash's bed. His narrowed eyes watched everyone carefully.

"They don't like it when people have weapons out," Ash said, half-apologetically, half not. He was watching Natasha and Clint both, gaze roving between them. "All of my Pokémon have had some bad… okay, a LOT of bad experiences with people attacking us. Not just here in New York." _Okay __then_, Bruce thought. He did recognize the signs of danger. His general estimation of Ash went up a few levels.

Natasha had tensed the minute the animals had moved. Clint too. Had the animals gone towards any of the Avengers, Bruce was certain they would have had a full battle on their hands. That the moves had all been defensive had been all that had spared them. The Avengers, as far as tempers went, were a pretty docile group during downtime though no one – the World, SHIELD, NYPD – would ever confuse that with weakness. Had a threat been acknowledged, Natasha would have moved first, and not even the reflexes of Captain America would have done Ash or the creatures any good.

Tony looked skeptical - he had completely ignored the tension that had skyrocketed in the last few seconds. "You're a kid," he said bluntly, still moving and manipulating images. Bruce saw him move a recording of one of the animals speech patterns into a new folder marked 'Backtalk'. Typical. "Who'd be attacking you? Especially with these guys hanging around?"

"You'd be surprised," was Ash's vague answer. Bruce was curious to know what he meant by that. Ash looked up at the rafters. "It's okay guys, I promise. But you two stay up there if it makes you feel better."

"Doesn't seem very brave," Clint mused. His fingers were still gripping an arrow. His bow needed only three seconds for him to pull off and lock open. "Running away instead of protecting you?"

Ash didn't rise to the bait. "I'd want them to run away if there was danger," he insisted instead. His voice was passionate, filled with honesty. Bruce didn't think there was a dishonest bone in the kids entire body – he seemed to wear his feelings on his sleeve. Ash smiled at the dragon next to him. "But they'd never do that. Up there, they have a clear shot at anyone who wants to harm me or my other Pokémon. Not to mention a diving start for StarRaptor's Brave Bird, or Infernape's Inferno attack."

Attacks again. "I'm not going to ask," Bruce declared at last. "At least not yet. But if you're fine with it, I am too."

"And you're sure you have enough room?" Steve asked warily. "What if this next one attacks?"

Ask shook his head. "I know my Pokémon," he said, relaxed once again. "Torterra's also the calmest of all my Pokémon. If I'm calm, Torterra will be calm too." He looked at all his pokemon. "It's okay guys. Remember, you're as new to them as they are to you." He sent a wry look to Charizard. "I know you like being scary but it won't help us here."

Charizard grunted and lay back down. Bruce noted however, that his eyes remained slitted open a little wider then they'd been previously.

A whistle sounded throughout the room. "Alright, alright, talk is cheap, bring it out!" Tony clapped his hands, partially dispelling the tension. Clint relaxed and followed suit, somehow winding up at the foot of Ash's bed, trading high-fives with Buizel. He still had his techno-quiver though, and the arrow was within his easy reach. Bruce hoped it wouldn't be needed.

"Okay." Ash pressed the button and gave it a small toss. The red light shone out, and the ball automatically returned to Ash's hand.

"I need this technology," Tony moaned, and then that was all he had time to say before his mouth dropped open in stunned surprise. Steve jumped to his feet, taking a step back in surprise. Bruce blinked twice before reaching to his pocket for the cloth he used to clean his glasses. This was a bit different from the other animals – Pokémon – Ash had already shown them. Quite a bit different.

Torterra was big. Massively so. He was a big, brown turtle with a green and white shell and a tree growing out of his right shoulder. Was it a he? What would the female of the species look like? Bruce shook his head and leaned forward, fascinated. He almost immediately back pedaled as Torterra took a huge step forward, its paw pressing onto the floor with a hearty *thunk*. Its large, dark claws threatened to dig through the titanium flooring, scoring it with each move it made. Another step. Clint scooted over the bed to the other side, watching warily. Natasha had her Widow's Bites aimed automatically but the surprise had raised everyone's hackles. "Natasha..." Bruce really didn't want this to escalate. Natasha blinked, looked at him, and then lowered her weapon, deferring to his judgment. Bruce sent her a small smile of thanks.

The turtle ignored him. In fact, it ignored everyone, save for one. Torterra wasn't the least bit interested in them, Bruce realized. The creature was moving steadily toward its trainer, one heavy foot after another, and Ash was already leaning out, wrapping his arms around Torterra's head when it was within range. The turtle grunted contentedly, nuzzling back. "Tor…."

Buizle rolled its eyes, arms folded again. "Bui…"

"I'm okay, Torterra," Ash said soothingly. His concentration was completely and solely on his pet. "It's a broken ankle, and you know I've had worse before."

"Terra….Tor, tor terra…" The animal continued to press its muzzle against Ash's face, licking it once for good measure. That single lick covered the entire half of Ash's face and left the spiky black bangs pointing straight up on the one side. Bruce breathed a sigh of relief.

"Enough, Torterra, you know that tickles." Ash giggled before turning to face the gaping Avengers team. "This is Torterra. Torterra, these are my new friends."

Steve gave a weak, two-fingered salute. Bruce waved tentatively. Natasha blinked rapidly. Tony was already on the creature's back, abandoning his scans in order to peer at the foliage up close. "Is this biological plant life? Does it grow through the shell or over top of it? How do you maintain it? Can I have a sample?"

Ash shrugged at Tony's questions. "All Torterra have that tree. It had two smaller plants growing on it as a Grotle, and before that, a tiny leaf growing out of its head as Turtwig." As he spoke, the Pokedex showed the relevant images and Jarvis faithfully put them on display on the large monitors.

Steve had stood up and was moving towards the turtle with wide eyes. "I used to love turtles when I was growing up," he murmured. "Ever since I read about Darwin finding those turtles that had to be almost a hundred and fifty years old when I was a boy. Living fossils." He beamed at the turtle and looked at Ash. "I am sorry about Tony's rudeness." Tony stuck his tongue out but kept examining the leaves on the large tree. "May I pet him?"

"Go ahead," Ash invited. Steve gently rubbed Torterra's shell, and the large animal swung its head around, giving him a curious but warm look.

Tony jumped off the back of the turtle, allowing Clint to help catch and steady him. He gave Torterra a pat on the shell as he did so. "Thanks, Greenie." He shot a quick look to Bruce. "Now, don't get jealous. I still have lots of nicknames for you and the Jolly Green Giant."

Bruce ignored him. "Jarvis, are you able to convert the data yet?" His list of questions was steadily growing and he desperately wanted access to the information stored on the contraption to see if it answered any of them.

"I believe so, Master Bruce, but please don't take it as being one hundred percent complete."

"I'll take what I can get." Bruce watched as data specifically concerning Ash's Pokémon poured across the screens. One screen had locations that meant nothing, really, to them. A map file was there as well, and he saved it to his own server Tony had graciously set up for him back when he'd first moved in. There were lists of statistics that didn't mean much now but Bruce was certain they would as more of his questions got answered. Symbols that didn't mean anything to them yet – a shaded house, a pink circle with two white slashes - were dotted all over the place. Another screen had types and moves. Bruce pointed at it. "Ash? Can you explain this screen?"

Ash peered at it and visibly brightened. "Those are my Pokémon's attack moves. It shows the type and its limitations."

Seemed they were going to be learning attacks now after all. "What do you mean?"

"Well, take Pikachu for example." The yellow rat in the boy's lap made an adorably crooning sound as Ash stroked its ears. "Pikachu's most powerful attack is 'Thunder'. It can take on almost any Pokémon and blast them out of the battlefield!" Ash smiled proudly. "But you put a rock or ground type against it, like a Graveller, or an Onix, and his power goes right down. Electric types don't work against ground types."

"So what do you do when you face these ground types?" Natasha asked. Bruce hid a grin - trust her to ask about overcoming a weakness.

"Well, that's why I had Pikachu learn Iron Tail," Ash stated proudly. "Iron Tail works great against rock types."

Pikachu grinned and leaped into the air. It whirled around once horizontally, then went into a vertical somersault. As it did so, its tail turned a metallic gray color and stiffened, as though it had truly turned to iron instead of the organic limb it usually was. Pikachu stopped, mere inches from hitting the bed. Ash hadn't moved, trusting his Pokémon completely. Pikachu landed neatly, all four paws on the bed, his tail still that metallic color.

Bruce leaned forward and ran a finger along it. "Amazing," he breathed. "It truly feels like a piece of metal."

"Jarvis, I hope you haven't been lazy here," Tony warned, coming forward to peer at it along with Bruce.

"No sir. I promise, all relevant scans have been made and saved. I have also made and saved a video clip of the move itself. Shall I store it in the general Pokemon folder?"

"Sub folder, name it video clips, sub folder to that named Pikachu, copy to a folder under Pokemon named Pikachu Basic," Tony muttered, poking the tail gently. It was as hard as steel.

Pikachu's tail turned back to its normal yellow, and Bruce was suddenly petting the soft fur. Pikachu crooned, curling under Bruce's wrist and nudging his hand, a definite encouragement for him to continue what he was doing, and making Ash laugh at the same time. "Pikachu loves having his tail rubbed."

"Don't you say anything," Bruce warned Tony who had opened his mouth to add a comment, nipping him neatly in the bud. "He's a minor."

"You are absolutely no fun today," Tony groused but thankfully he dropped whatever filthy remark he'd been about to let loose. "Hey Cap – mind giving Metal Mouse here a target?" Bruce looked at him in alarm. "Relax, Brucie - just a little demonstration, no biggie."

Steve unshouldered the large artist bag he kept his shield in and pulled it out. "Sure," he said, smiling at the rat. He looked eager to see what it could do. "Just go easy on me, okay?"

Ash looked concerned. "Are you sure?" Pikachu cocked his head, watching them all closely.

Steve struck the center of his shield. "It's taken hits from bombs and lasers and it's still in one piece. I think it can handle a practice hit." He looked back at Pikachu. "Okay, little guy, let's do it!"

Pikachu looked at Ash for permission, who nodded warily, and then sprang to all four feet. He growled, "Pika'" at Captain America, who braced himself and held the shield up. "Pika chu… chu pi!"

As he spun around in that vertical somersault, again, his tail turned steel gray and it whistled through the air. There was a flash of light as it whipped around almost too fast to see, followed by a metallic ringing as it landed. The impact of the tail on Steve's shield pushed Steve back a few feet, boots skidding across the polished hardwood, and down to one knee. Pikachu rebounded away from the hit, flipped once in mid-air and landed on all fours, facing Steve in what looked like a battle-ready position. "Whoa!"

"Pika?" The tail turned yellow and suddenly Pikachu was crawling under the shield to look Steve Rogers in the face. "Pii Pika?" It looked worried.

A laugh came from the bed. "He wants to know if you're okay," Ash translated, looking somewhat relieved.

Natasha was suddenly there, and she helped him stand up (and stood guard, Bruce realized) as he examined his shield. A tiny dent, among all the other tiny dents he'd taken against his shield, was all that remained of the attack. Pikachu's ears flattened in annoyance, but Steve was suddenly scratching them enthusiastically, his initial shyness among the creatures gone. "That was a great hit!"

"Pi kaaa?" Pikachu gave Steve a look that even Bruce could tell was asking if he was serious.

Steve smiled. "Not many things can damage my shield, Pikachu. Or even scratch the paint. That you managed to leave even a tiny mark is proof of real power."

The yellow rat cheered up at this, scampering back to Ash's bed – with a quick rebound of Torterra's shell for added height – and stood there proudly. Ash picked him up and hugged him. "See, you are amazing, just like I keep telling you." The two looked at each other for a minute, and even Bruce could sense the deep bond between them for a minute. It was almost a tangible thing in itself. Was that because Pikachu was the first of Ash's partners? Did all of them develop that sort of bond with a trainer?

Meanwhile, Buizel looked rather affronted. "Bui bui!" It insisted, thumping its own chest. It looked insulted and Bruce remembered that Buizel had been denied a chance to show off a move of its own.

"You'll have plenty of chances to prove how tough you are, AFTER the introductions are through," Bruce said calmly, hoping to prevent more demonstrations. The last thing he needed – or wanted – was for a full-on fight to break out in the child's recovery room. "I promise – Tony and I both want to see what you can do."

Tony nodded, giving an absent wave as he continued to review the information Jarvis had managed to extract from the Pokedex. "You better believe it," he muttered, poking the digital controls like a madman, moving his fingers almost too fast for anyone else to follow.

Buizel glared, but subsided reluctantly.

Hawkeye was back at Ash's side, poking the last pokeball with his index finger. "Okay, enough stalling. Who's in here?"

"Ahh..." Ash recalled Infernape and StarRaptor from their perch on the ceiling to their with twin flashes of red light, telling them to relax and have a rest for now, and then held out the last pokeball, cradling it in his hands. "Well...this is Gible."

Buizle started – and the leaped into a defensive pose, paws out. One paw extended further than the other, reminding Bruce of a basic Karate stance, and it's forked tail was lashing back and forth. Anticipation? On the other side, thick vines immediately twisted out of Torterra's sides, also held as though ready to grab something. The two stared at the ball, seeming a bit nervous. Bruce took a second look at Buizel – the animal seemed to be sweating heavily. That did not bode well.

"If they're on the defensive, that can't be good," Natasha said flatly. There was a good deal of warning in her tone. That was never a good thing. Her hand was also back on her gun, eyes narrowed on the small ball. That was just as equally bad.

Steve gripped his shield, the team leader in him springing to the forefront. "Ash?"

"He's not dangerous," Ash said quickly, picking up instantly on the tension that sprang up amongst the Avengers. He looked pleadingly at Bruce, clutching the pokeball to his chest. "He's really not. It's just that... well, Gible's very young and he's still in training. He has a habit of eating everything in sight – food, plants, dirt, chairs, tables…" Ash looked around the room he'd been given. "In fact, he'd probably try to eat everything in here, including the walls and floors."

"Does he eat people? Animals?" Steve asked, looking very much like their Leader who was afraid for his team's safety.

"What?" Ash looked shocked and he shook his head quickly. "No, no, nothing like that." He grinned. "Just chews on my head sometimes."

"Pii ka, chu pi?" Pikachu was touching the ball gently, and looking up at all of them, moving his gaze from each Avenger to the next. "Ka chu pi pi ka chu."

"It's only fair," Ash agreed. He looked at Steve directly. "He doesn't think it's fair to keep Gible locked up when everyone else is out, but he also doesn't think it's a good idea to bring him out now. He's not dangerous. He's a baby with lots of power - young and destructive. Especially when he's nervous, or doesn't know everybody."

"Gee, that sounds familiar," Tony said with a snort and an exaggerated look at Bruce. "Where have I heard those words applied to an individual before?"

His words did a lot of break the tension that had erupted in the room. "Shut up Tony." Bruce gave Tony a light smack upside the head. Ignoring the '_Ow! Abuse! I'm calling my lawyers!'_, he sent a reassuring look to the young trainer who had grown paler during their talk. "We have a room just built for the nervous, destructive types. Why don't we just postpone his appearance until we can get there instead? Besides," he leaned forward and then put a hand to Ash's forehead. "You're still pale, and I think I feel that fever coming back. Too much excitement since you woke up." Bruce shook his head. "We got caught up in the excitement of meeting such extraordinary creatures and completely forgot you're still recovering from pretty extensive damage."

Pikachu 'chaa'd at Ash. Ash nodded. "That sounds good," he said, with obvious relief. He leaned back against the pillow. "I'm still a little tired."

"You should be." Bruce adjusted a few of the monitors and placed a patch on Ash's chest. "I'm just going to watching your vitals through these machines for a little while longer. Just to make sure you're okay."

Pikachu sniffed the patch curiously. Ash yawned.

"Okay, since that's decided, let's talk about these battles you mentioned." Clint was staring at a screen intently. "What's a Flamethrower as it relates to Charizard, and why does it say 140 power next to it?"

"Clint!" Bruce gripped the archer by the arm and pulled him away. "We are going to let Ash rest for a bit before we make him tell us everything about his life, okay?"

"Oh yeah, geez. Sorry Kiddo – wow, he IS still pale. Why'd you keep us talking doc? That can't be good for -OW! OWWWWWW, let go! Tasha? Partner? Best friend?"

"You're on your own, idiot."

* * *

Philip Coulson sat in his office, watching the screen. The Avengers knew he'd be watching and so he felt no guilt at all in spying. After all, he was indeed a spy. A very good one at that.

His first job was to save the world. To do that, he needed to save the Avengers. Sometimes, they could be so softhearted that they could ignore the obvious threats and focus on the one part that raised their sympathies. Tony Stark, for all his pragmatism, could be surprisingly sympathetic, particularly when children were involved. Bruce Banner had no enduring love for SHIELD. Captain America himself had a history of disobeying direct orders to protect his men from the cold rule of the army. Even Natasha and Clint, his primary assets, had begun to soften the longer they stayed immersed in Stark Tower. Phil had no problem with this, really. His loyalties to the team were not in question. But SHIELD's loyalties to them were. Phil knew very well that Fury had to keep a variety of entities happy in order to maintain his hold on SHIELD. It was why he'd cut Phil loose and set him on the Avengers. By making him the handler for the most powerful team in the world, he'd provided protection for a high-ranking SHIELD official, away from puppeteering of the World Council.

Which left him with a problem. The boy in the bed, a fourteen year old from another dimension, had all of the teams sympathies. Phil wasn't so cold-hearted that he couldn't see why – the boy had been thrown into their world and spent three months on his own on the streets of New York. That he survived as well as he did spoke volumes about the child, and more importantly, the creatures that guarded him. He'd seen part of what they were capable of at Central Park, and the reports filed by his agents had filled in the blanks.

A dragon that breathed fire and explosions. An electric rodent that could damage the shield of Captain America with a single practice blow. A bird capable of carrying grown men in her claws. A monkey that rivaled Hawkeye in athletic ability and possessed an inferno inside it. A turtle that commanded the power of nature itself.

A single creature would be enough to arouse the interests of those who held different priorities than that of SHIELD. That there were seven of them... that was a group the same size as the Avengers. And Phil, as well as the world, knew the power that could be contained within a small group. He rubbed his temples as he thought hard, organizing his thoughts.

Phil switched off the screen. Ash was sleeping now, and Bruce was in there with him. Phil would go and speak to Bruce about what he'd discovered. Part of him wanted to introduce himself to Ash that moment – he truly seemed like a good kid - but that time could wait a little longer. First he had a report to write Fury about what he'd seen on the video monitor first. How he wrote it had to be very carefully considered. Fury, he trusted. But SHIELD was not solely a dictatorship, no matter how much the younger Agents of SHIELD thought Fury was an omniscient leader. Despite SHIELD security, other eyes than Fury's would receive Phil's missives.

With those creatures at the boy's command and in the right hands, the child could be a very useful weapon. And Coulson knew exactly who would be most interested in wielding it.

Phil blew out a breath and began organizing his notes, planning in his head how exactly he was going to word his report so that Fury could read what he wanted him to. Luckily, he'd done this before, many times before. This was not, as Clint would say, his first rodeo.

* * *

Two days of down time did everyone some good and also drove a few people further up the walls than normal. Ash was given plenty of opportunities to catch up on the healing rest he desperately needed, but in between nap times, he was constantly being visited by Clint (who was infatuated with his Pokémon and wanted them out of the balls all of the time), Tony (who was desperate to acquire his 'atrociously ugly tech' and improve upon it) and Bruce (who was fascinated by both the creatures and the tech that contained them).

Natasha usually followed to ensure the child's safety from her teammates and could be found up in the rafters with StarRaptor. A strange kind of friendship had sprung up between human and bird, and the Raptor could be found nuzzling the redhead for attention, sometimes preening her hair. Clint had taken over a hundred incriminating photos that he fully planned to add to his blackmail folder.

Coulson had eventually introduced himself to Ash. The boy was nervous in his presence, but no one had been able to figure out why. Steve thought he kind of knew – Phil was an Agent and he acted like one. The Avengers were not conventional soldiers, Natasha and Clint aside, and acted on a more informal level. Ash had already spoken about being the victim of attacks before though he hadn't expanded on that much, and Coulson was a very intense man who took his job very seriously. Coulson's questioning had been much cooler than Bruce's.

Steve had to admit he liked the child. Ash Ketchum was of average intelligence, but had a very strong, intense bond with his creatures, claiming to view them as friends, but his actions towards them were more like a parent guarding his children. Which was strange, considering the animals under his control had all the power. And still, that was not the strangest part of Ash's story.

"So children can go off on their own in the world at age ten?" Steve scratched his head, unable to stop a frown from forming on his face. He sat at the end of Ash's bed, the yellow rodent – Pikachu – sitting between them. The rat liked to have its tail stroked and Steve was more than happy to pet the soft fur, marveling at the velvety texture. "Forgive me for saying so, but that doesn't sound very responsible. Or safe."

"For kids on our world, yeah," Tony piped up. He was currently dissecting an older version of Ash's pokedex – the kid had half a dozen of them in his backpack, each one apparently upgraded from the last. Tony was on the third one in, breaking it down and uploading the information into a format 'he could tolerate', as he put it. He'd had to promise on the threat of Charizard's fangs that he would return each one to its previous condition when he was finished. "Maybe Ash's world is a safe place full of wide open spaces, blue skies and no pedophiles to be found."

"Pedo-whats?" Ash asked, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

Steve flushed red and sent Tony a glare that the older man cheerfully ignored. "Never mind," he said. "But I mean, isn't your mom worried about you?"

"Of course she is," Ash said guilelessly. "But I make sure to call at least twice a week, more if there's a Pokémon Center nearby."

"And you said these Centers are like hostels," Steve continued. "You eat, sleep, wash up, basically have access to all the amenities of home in them? For free?"

Ash nodded. "Free for Pokémon trainers," he clarified. "But they also rent rooms for other purposes. I met a Pokémon archeologist who was doing field work near a Center once, and the Nurse Joy there let him keep his work in one of their rooms."

"That's the part that bugs me," Bruce joined in. "You said all the Centers are run by a 'Nurse Joy' and all of them look identical?"

"Well, I can't tell the difference between them," Ash frowned. "But my buddy Brock can, easily. Here-" he rummaged through his back pack for a moment and pulled out a small scrapbook. Opening it up, he flipped to a page of identical pink-haired women. "—Brock gave me a copy of his photo."

"If they're all related and all the females look identical to each other – including the children – is that some sort of genetic defect? I wish I had a DNA sample," Bruce said, marveling at the photo. There were at least thirty women in the photo, three rows deep, all with folded hands and gentle smiles aimed at the photographer. Even holding the picture close, Bruce could not identify a single physical characteristic that differed one from another. Even their poses, their expressions – there wasn't even a single strand of hair out of place. The only thing that changed was their nursing cap – the cross varied in shades. But that was the sole difference.

"That's nothing," Ash said, smirking. "Wait until you see the Officer Jenny's." He reached over and turned the page in the scrap book. Bruce nearly fell off the bed. A nearly identical photograph though this was in a police station of some kind. Again, thirty women with matching blue hair and uniforms stood in three lines, saluting the camera. Like the Joy's, each one stood perfectly aligned with the one next to her, hair done in identical ponytails. The single difference was the same as the Joys – a badge on the cap showing different colors. It was a genetic impossibility. Bruce's fingers itched for a DNA sample.

"Who pays for all the free Centers?" Tony looked up from the pile of parts in his lap, changing the subject. It was amazing they got anywhere at all, considering how many times all them kept switching tracks on Ash in mid-conversation. "The government? Do you have a President? A Prime Minister? A Supreme Dictator in charge?"

"Uhh…." Ash scratched his head, looking confused again. "Each city has a mayor, I think…And the Pokémon gym leaders are pretty powerful – everyone looks up to them. And then there's the Elite Four. They're in charge of the Pokemon Rangers who handle things like Pokemon Poachers."

"But who pays for all of this?" Tony pressed. "Do you have money? How do you pay for your travels?"

"I walk everywhere," Ash replied, wide-eyed. He pushed up against the back of the bed automatically. Steve could understand. Tony could be a little intense at times. "The ferries are usually free to ride as long as you have a pass."

"And how do you get a pass?" Tony all but shrieked. Any minute now, Steve was certain Tony was going to start foaming at the mouth. "What form of currency do you use to obtain train tickets, plane tickets, food in a grocery store, shampoo and conditioner, condoms?"

"Tony!" Steve fought down yet another blush, determined that just once, he would deny the man the satisfaction of seeing him turn bright red. Still examining the three closest Pokemon – Charizard, who never left the kid's room, Pikachu (seemingly a permanent attachment to Ash's left shoulder) and Buizel, who had struck up a friendship with Clint (the weasel-esque creature liked to test his paws against the Archer who apparently was happy to play punching bag), Bruce hid a snicker of his own – it simply wasn't dignified.

"We have money, if that's what you're asking," Ash said, shrinking back against the headboard. Tony groaned and threw his hands up in the air. Over in the corner, Charizard lifted its head and glared at Tony, huffing a small flame in the inventor's direction.

Bruce sent Tony another arch look, and Steve breathed a silent sigh of relief for the support. Bruce was unpredictable – sometimes portraying the straight-laced professor he'd been briefed about prior to their first meeting, and other times, capable of acting as irreverent and playful as Tony. Though Stark had him beat at sarcasm, hands down. "Calm down, Tony," he told him. "Play with your toys and let me ask the questions for now." He tossed a smaller wrench at the man who snatched it up with a chortle and immediately applied it to the motherboard in his lap.

Tony did as he was told (and Steve was certain – laugh - it had nothing to do with the deadly look Natasha was sending his way) while Steve tried another approach. "Do you have some money on you? Can I see it?" He pulled out his own wallet – worn, creased and actually purchased by him in 1932, returned to him by Tony after the engineer found it in a box of stuff marked 'Steve's' in a store room containing most of his father's personal belongings - from the back of his jeans and flipped it open. He pulled a few modern bills from the ancient pockets within and showed them to Ash who eyed them with curiosity. "I want to compare it with our money, see how different it is."

"Sure!" Ash opened his bag again. There was an internal pocket that he unzipped and he pulled out a small wad of red and blue paper. The boy had no wallet, and his currency was crushed into a bundle that hurt Steve, just a little bit, to see. The boy began unfolding it, being careful not to tear the paper. "I hadn't battled in a while before coming here, so I'm running low."

"You get money for battling?" Steve asked, laying his own money flat against Ash's. It reminded him of Canadian money, what with all the colors. There was a mountain in the middle and a strange, star-shaped creature seated at the base of it. A single curl of hair poked between two pointed ears and it looked almost like it was giving a double peace sign. Steve assumed it was another Pokemon. He wondered vaguely how many of them there were. "How does that work?"

Ash nodded. "If you win, you win some of the other person's money. The Pokedex's calculate what each battle is worth afterward and the loser pays the winner."

"Where do you get the money to start off?" Bruce asked, apparently trying again.

"From my mother," Ash said promptly, and Steve stifled an exasperated groan. This was going to take a while.

* * *

Outside of the Avengers Tower the sun had set nearly an hour ago but New York City was still wide awake. Taxi cabs clogged the streets, conveying their passengers to the nightclubs and restaurants of their choices, the cabbies slamming their fists on the horn and shouting out the windows for people to get out of their way. Neon lights sizzled up and down the boulevards, providing even more light than the city's actual streetlamps. New Yorkers strode the sidewalks purposefully, high heels clicking, sneakers slapping, work boots thumping as they made their way home before it became truly dark and the darker parts of the city more dangerous. A few courageous street vendors still had their stalls open, trying to catch the patronage of people working the late shift, though most had closed up when the sun went down. Not because they were afraid but because they didn't stand a chance against the thousands of restaurants that opened up around that time. The scents of a hundred different cuisines drifted on the night air, mingling with the sickly-sweet smell that was garbage both bagged and strewn about the numerous alley's. In the heat, it was stifling and could make you feel nauseous. In the mild temperatures - such as tonight – it was mild and easily tolerated. He was used to far worse smells, living the lifestyle he did.

Ahh, New York City. His city. He'd been born and raised there, at ten and a half pounds almost twenty-nine years ago. The darkened alley's that frightened the tourists and were home to packs of intact feral cats had been his playground in his youth. He was a child of the island and he could not feel scared of what lurked in the bowels of New York anymore than he could walk into Tiffany's to spend the equivalent of two months rent for a loft on Park Street. Jacky Six loved his city so. Almost as much as he loved the item in his hands, purchased no less than two hours ago with real money he'd earned himself.

It was beautiful. Jacky Six stroked a finger down the side of the glass bottle in his hands, tracing the raised glass that depicted an old distillery somewhere off in a place he'd never been and likely never would be, and felt all was right with the world. Earlier, when he'd picked up the bottle from the liquor store by the Mom and Pop's, he'd felt that today was going to be his lucky day. He was owed one after all – he was a man in the business, the business of information, and his resources were highly prized he reminded himself. Eventually they'd pay off – the coppers would be begging him to share his knowledge, the money would come pouring in and he would have a chance to get back to the life he'd been planning. This was just a stop-gap. A minor setback.

The man known as Jacky Six was one of the many, many vagrant, out-of-work, down-on-their-luck social miscreants that peppered New York City. Once he had been more – he'd been respected even, his street smarts and his brains taking him in the direction he'd wanted to go since he had been a little boy and watched the powerful men on TV in their black suits, making things happen, showing the world they were the ones who knew what there was to know. HE wanted to wear the black suits, have the ear piece on, command every day pedestrians to move aside for the wealthy and the powerful as he led the way into those buildings, those places of MEN. At the moment he was as far from that reality as it was possible to be. All he had was the little informational tidbits he could scrounge up from his fellow outcasts, picked up from gossip around galvanized metal trashcans glowing red and warm from the fires lit inside much like other people gathered from hanging around office water coolers. For now, that was enough.

Jacky knew about information. Information was power. Before he'd become THIS, there had been THEN, and somewhere in the addled recesses of his alcohol-soaked brain, he knew that information was the key to surviving. Jacky Six was a survivor. He just had a small problem, that was all.

But today, Jacky Six was having a great day, oh yes. Squeegee-ing car windshields on Park avenue was a tricky business – panhandlers were not liked in the posh side of town, but Jacky Six had a couple of friends on the police force who paid him for rumors about what went down on the black markets for fenced goods from high places. THAT information, he was good at finding out, like an intellectual bloodhound. He knew the wheat from the chaff, had experience at identifying the worthy bits. The small details he saw, he remembered – when he COULD remember – was what separated him from the rest of the riffraff. It tended to pay off over time, much like it did today. One of the officers he'd recently turned onto a flat screen smuggling ring in the Bronx had turned a blind eye when he'd spotted Jacky on the corner with his bottle of Windex and the tools of his trade. As a result, he'd been lucky enough to score a car manned by a little old lady – in a fuckin' beautiful red corvette, no less - who felt sorry for him. She'd rewarded his honest efforts with a ten dollar bill – the most he'd ever made from a single car before.

That ten bucks combined with the eight he'd earned the previous day meant he was drinking fancy. Instead of his usual Two-Buck Chuck, he was drinking some actual goddamned whiskey from the land of the Scotts. It had been a long time, but it tasted as good as he remembered. He giggled as he took another long pull from the bottle. The familiar burn warmed him all the way down, relaxing him to the point where he didn't actually care that he was too late to get to a shelter for a bed. All the beds were gone by seven o'clock anyway, and it was going on nine. He giggled again, holding the bottle up and tilting it to look at the designs on the glass through the glow of the streetlights. He'd slept on park benches and under bushes before, and it was no hardship to do it again. Not with this baby to keep him nice and warm. He'd dream about those tests, the ones he'd been so good at and he would be again. He just had a little problem, no big deal. Jacky patted the bottle absently.

"Thank ye, old lady from Pasadena," he hummed, and sat down with a thunk on the worn wooden bench. He almost tipped over, and a few precious drops of amber liquid escaped into the grass. He growled at himself – who knew when he'd be able to get his hands on this shit again? - and carefully replaced the screw top lid. Upon consideration, he reopened it, took another long swallow – and another, for the hell of it – before closing it back up. The heat burned on the way down, stirring that warm glow in his belly. He liked that feeling.

He heard a sniff of disgust, and he turned his head to see a young couple walk by, as far across to the edge of the path away from him as they could get. The girl, sultry in a sluttish way, long dirty blonde hair pushed behind her ears, was side-eying him with distaste, red lips puckered in a grimace to have to breathe the same air as Jackie. Her boyfriend looked like a walking stereotype with baggy jeans down to his knees and sleeveless sports jersey. He was resolutely ignoring Jacky as though he were part of the park decoration and not a fellow human being. Neither of them could have been over twenty-one.

"Fuck youuuuuu," he caroled cheerfully, waving the bottle at them. The girl glared at him, and the guy whispered something to her that made her laugh in a not-very-nice way. Jacky didn't give a damn. What did he care about the whispers of some crack-showing dick and his whore? He'd been called everything in the book at one time or another, and it didn't pierce his thick hide anymore. You had to give a shit about yourself in order for words to hurt you, and Jackie had given up on himself a long time ago.

Something snapped behind him. Probably more stupid punk college babies with their 'significant others' and their trust funds and who wouldn't know what the real world was like if it bit them on the ass. Jacky grinned and lolled his head backwards, sticking his tongue out, give 'em a shock, a sight of that real world they tried to pretend didn't exist. He rolled his neck against the top board of the back of the bench, ignoring the chance of splinters, peering wobbly into the stand of trees behind him. No one. Probably a squirrel then, or maybe a rabbit. There was something weird about the trees behind him, though. His brain, his smarts he used to have – he could feel them trying to work, like creaky wheels trying to find traction in the alcohol soaking the way. Something wasn't right about those trees. They were wrong. The shadows were wrong. Not shadows. _What the hell..._

His first true impression was of darkness. Tall darkness. Jacky's bleary eyes traveled up those shadows _– are those fucking legs? They look like goddamned tree stumps _– and saw spikes sticking out amongst the feathery boughs of the trees. Rigid and flat. There was a hint of white – a sharp gleam in that black blackness. Like teeth. Big white teeth. Jacky gasped and wrenched his head up, whipping around for a better look but a shrieking howl pierced the night, shattering his ear drums. He rolled off the bench in shock, slamming his hands to his head. The shadow was roaring. The ground was shaking, the thumps slow, inexorable. It was moving. Coming towards him. Towards him!

"Shit!" Jacky screamed, suddenly finding his voice. "Shit, shit, shit!" He threw the bottle at the shadow and tried to crawl away but he tripped over his own baggy rags and went crashing face-first into the dirt path. Someone was screaming – the slutty college girl and her boyfriend maybe, who the fuck knew – and he was sobbing into the dirt, snorting dust and choking on rocks as something crashed near his head. Weeping and rolling on the ground, he realized it was the bench he'd been laying on – now upside down a few feet in front of him. It was cut in half, crumpled and torn at the edge where it had been ripped and shredded. "Oh Jesus," he babbled, scrabbling for the remains of the bench, trying to get behind it, curl up in a ball and hide. He'd wet himself at some point, the warm stream gluing his pant legs to his skinny thighs, but he didn't care. All he could hear was the roar of the what-the-fuck-ever that thing was, and the girl screaming, a high-pitched keening sound that faded – running away, getting away like he couldn't.

This wasn't right, this wasn't supposed to happen to him. He was smart, he had a chance, he didn't deserve demons from Hell coming to grab him, and it had to be a demon stomping over flattened grass and shrieking that horrible sound. He was supposed to get over this rut, have another shot at those black suits and be on the right side of them for once.

Jackie Six saw the shadow move past his feet and he tucked them in, covering his head and sobbing like a child, babbling apologies to his mother, his teachers, for failing them, because THIS was how it would end, and this, this wasn't fair. There would be no places of power for him, no suits because the darkness was coming for him and it had teeth. The ground shook again, massive feet crunching through the path floor and he shivered, praying like he'd never had before in his life. Then something struck his head – a branch, a rock, he never knew, and then he was falling swiftly into darkness, and not for the first time, he was all to happy to meet it.

* * *

**End Chapter 3**

* * *

Anyone hazard a guess as to what Jackie Six wanted to be before he discovered a weakness for booze?

Feedback always greatly appreciated!


End file.
